University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


<2_o 


REMARKS 


ON    THE 


PRACTICABILITY    OF 


EMBRACING ,  THEIR 


COLONIZATION; 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX. 


BY    ISAAC    M'COY 


SECOND  EDITION, 


NEW-YORK: 

PJRINTED   BY    GRAY   AND    BUNCE,    224    CHERRY-STREET. 

1829. 


A 


3 


REMARKS. 


CHAPTER  1 


The  principles  on  which  Europeans  first  met  the  Aborigines  of  Ameri 
ca  followed  by  ruinous  consequences.  The  Indian  title  to  the  soil 
legal.  Its  legality  may  be  acknowledged  without  detriment  to  the 
United  States. 


THE  design  of  the  following  pages  is  to  exhibit  the  obligation  which 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  under,  to  meliorate  and  substantially 
improve  the  condition  of  the  Aborigines  of  our  country,  together  with 
the  means  for  attaining  this  most  desirable  object. 

From  among  the  many  things  which  might  be  said  on  this  subject,  I 
shall  endeavour  to  select  a  few,  which  I  deem  worthy  of  special  notice. 

I  suppose  that  the  increasing  wretchedness  of  the  Indian  tribes  with 
whom  the  Europeans  have  come  in  contact  ever  since  their  settlement 
in  this  country,  may  be  traced  to  the  degradation  in  which  they  found 
them.  They  were,  at  that  time,  sunk  to  the  level  of  nature,  and  had 
ceased  to  feel  the  influence  of  a  spirit  of  improving  enterprise.  Though 
in  possession  of  physical  means  for  the  elevation  of  their  character,  yet 
they  were  destitute  of  mental  cultivation.* 

This  fact  produced  the  same  effect  upon  all  who  discovered,  and  set-, 
tied  different  portions  of  the  country,  whether  Spaniards,  English  or 
French.  If  some  were  cruel,  and  others  humane,  the  difference  origi 
nated  in  the  feeling  each  brought  with  them  from  their  mother  country, 
and  not  in  different  views  of  the  national  rights  of  the  natives.  Neither 
the  one,  nor  the  other,  met  the  Indians  as  on  an  equality  with  them 
selves.  It  requires  no  argument  to  prove  that  all  agreed  in  supposing 
the  Indians  possessed  no  legal  title  to  the  soil  on  which  they  were  found, 
and  that  they  were  too  destitute  of  national  character  to  be  met  on  an 
equality  in  negociations.  That  they  had  claims  on  our  sympathies,  has 
never  been  denied  by  any  good  man — that  they  had  a  legal  right,  as  a 
nation,  to  any  portion  of  the  territory,  has  never  been  admitted  by  any 
government  which  has  come  in  contact  with  them. 

Thus  low  were  the  Indians  sunk,  either  in  fact,  or  in  the  estimation 
of  Europeans,  on  their  discovery  of  America.  They  did  not  possess 
moral  ability  to  elevate  themselves,  nor  have  they  since  been  put  in  pos 
session  of  that  ability  by  their  more  fortunate  neighbours.  Our  views, 
and  our  prejudices  in  relation  to  them,  continue ;  their  degradation,  and 
their  wretchedness  remain ;  the  latter  increasing  in  proportion  to  the 
natural  comforts  of  which  the  savage  state  is  necessarily  deprived  by  its 


proximity  to  that  of  the  civilized,  when  the  loss  of  the  former  is  not 
supplied  by  a  transfer  from  the  comforts  of  the  latter. 

The  continuance  of  Indian  miseries,  is  no  more  a  matter  of  surprise, 
than  the  continuance  of  our  prejudices  in  relation  to  them.  The  causes 
not  being  removed,  improvement  in  their  condition  ought  not  to  be  anti 
cipated* 

In  evidence  of  the  assumption  that  the  legality  of  Indian  title,  to 
territory,  has  never  been  admitted  by  any  European  government  which 
has  claimed  possessions  in  North  America,  nor  by  the  United  States, 
it  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose,  to  refer 

1st.  To  an  opinion  expressed  in  a  plea  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  by  one  of  our  first  statesmen,  who  says,  "What  is 
the  Indian  title?  It  is  mere  occupancy  for  the  purpose  of  hunting.  It 
is  not  like  our  tenures;  they  have  no  idea  of  a  title  to  the  soil  itself.  It 
is  overrun  by  them,  rather  than  inhabited.  It  is  not  a  true  and  legal 
possession.  Valid,  b.  1.  §  81.  p.  37,  and  §  209,  b.  2.  p.  96.  Montes 
quieu,  b.  18.  c.  12.  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations,  b.  5.  e.  i.  It  is  a  right 
not  to  be  transferred,  but  extinguished.  It  is  a  right  regulated  by  trea 
ties,  not  by  deeds  of  conveyance.  It  depends  upon  the  law  of  nations, 
not  upon  municipal  right.  Fletcher  vs.  Peck,  Crunch.  Vol.  6.  p.  121."* 

2d.  To  the  opinions  on  this  subject  expressed  by  the  Commissioners 
at  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  "  The  recognition  of  a  boundary  gives  up  to 
the  nation  in  whose  behalf  it  was  made,  all  the  Indian  tribes  and  coun 
tries  within  that  boundary." 

3d.  To  the  perfect  accordance  with  the  above  opinions  of  all  public 
acts  of  every  nation  concerned  in  the  question. 

Within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  it  is  not  admitted  that 
one  tribe  has  aright  to  convey  its  nominal  claim  to  another  tribe,  with 
out  the  permission  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Treaties,, 
held  with  the  Indian  tribes  for  the  extinguishment  of  their  title,  are* 
viewed  by  us  in  the  light  of  praiseworthy  "  moderation"  on  the  part  of 
our  Government,  resulting  from  a  desire  "  of  giving  ample  satisfaction 
to  every  pretence  of  prior  right." 

Believing  that  the  doctrine  which  influenced  Europeans  on  their  dis 
covery  of  America,  and  which  has  been  entailed  on  us,  is  unsound,  and 
has  ever  boen  a  fruitful  source  of  calamities  to  the  natives,  and  the  un 
necessary  occasion  of  much  perplexity  to  the  United  States,  I  solicit  the 
reader's  attention  to  a  brief  consideration  of  the  subject. 

What  claim  to  the  soil,  could  the  people  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
other  people,  prefer  to  an  impartial  tribunal,  which  the  natives  could 
not  plead  with  equal,  or  additional  propriety?  Speak  we  of  the  right 
of  discovery?  The  Indians  are  the  Aborigines  of  the  country.  We 
have  not  discovered  an  uninhabited  region,  but  a  peopled  country.  Let 
us  suppose  the  Chinese  at  this  day  to  be  ignorant  of  the  country  of  the 
United  States ;  a  company  of  ships  arrive  at  Jamestown,  and  set  up  a 
claim  to  the  whole  of  the  United  States'  territories.  Would  we  readily 
admit  that  the  law  of  nations  mnde  it  theirs  by  the  right  of  discovery? 
• — They  take  possession;  but  when  retiring  before  a  people  of  an  en- 

*  I  quote  from  Morse's  Indian  Report,  Appen.  p.  283. — 4.  This  I  consider  ap 
propriate,  because  these  opinions  have,  through  the  medium  of  that  Report,  re 
cently  been  called  up  to  the  view  of  the  public. 


tirely  separate  interest  from  ours,  and  of  superior  strength,  could  we 
suppose,  that  on  the  great  day  of  retribution,  they  would  he  free  from 
all  accusations  of  injustice  towards  us,  and  that  they  would  "  then  ap 
pear  in  the  whiteness  of  innocence  T'  Prefer  your  plea,  and  the  Indian 
adopts  it  against  us  with  peculiar  propriety. 

But  they  are  savages.  The  names  we  have  given  to  the  Indians  are 
merely  arbitrary,  and  are  made  to  signify  nothing  more,  than  that  their 
manners  and  customs  differ  from  ours  ;  and,  in  our  estimation,  are  less 
desirable.  Let  us  suppose  invaders  of  our  rights,  urging  the  same  plea, 
and  our  question  is  answered.  We  found  the  natives  living  in  those 
modes  of  life  which  they,  as  a  free  people,  chose  for  themselves ;  and 
we  should  be  found  by  our  invaders  in  the  exercise  of  the  same  liberty. 
Surely  the  round  of  nature  cannot  furnish  an  argument  to  justify  the 
taking  away  of  a  people's  country,  merely  because  the  inhabitants  have 
their  peculiar  modes  of  living;  when  too,  these  modes  of  life,  which 
differ  from  those  of  other  nations,  are  the  result  of  their  own  free  choice, 
and  have  never  disturbed  the  peace  of  others. 

But  they  are  merely  hunters,  "  and  what  is  the  right  of  a  huntsman 
to  the  forest  of  a  thousand  miles,  over  which  he  has  accidentally  ranged 
in  quest  of.  prey  ?" 

This  is  not  quite  the  fact.  The  Indians  are  huntsmen  ;  and  so  have 
always  been,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  large  portion  of  our  population  on 
the  frontiers  of  our  settlements.  The  Indians  never  lived  wholly  by 
hunting ;  and  a  portion  of  subsistence  of  white  settlers,  has  almost  in 
variably  been  taken  by  the  chase.  But  nobody  ever  thought  that  this 
circumstance  affected  the  legality  of  their  titles  to  land. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  Indians  were  merely  "  huntsmen,  accidentally 
passing  over  forests  of  a  thousand  miles."  They  were  people  at  home, 
and  furnishing  imperishable  monuments  of  the  antiquity  of  their  resi 
dence.  Here  they  had  lived  longer  than  the  existence  of  the  oaks  in 
whose  shades  they  reclined — from  time  immemorial. 

Their  country  was  divided  among  the  several  tribes ;  and  if  the 
bounds  of  each  was  not  fixed  with  an  exactitude  equal  to  that  which 
marks  the  boundaries  of  our  several  States  and  Territories  ;  yet,  it  was 
with  a  precision  which  they  deemed  sufficient,  and  which  we  admit, 
met  the  exigencies  of  their  situation,  equally  as  well  as  our  lines  meet 
the  circumstances  of  ours.  War  among  themselves,  whether  on  ac 
count  of  disputed  territory,  or  of  some  other  thing,  was  nothing  new 
in  the  history  of  nations.  It  becomes  us  to  feel  for  their  misfor 
tunes;  but  not  on  account  thereof,  to  frame  a  pretext  for  possessing  our 
selves  of  their  country.  What  law  of  nations  has  prescribed  the  amount 
of  land  a  people  must  cultivate  in  proportion  to  each  individual ;  the 
portion  of  food  they  must  take  from  the  waters,  or  the  woods ;  and  the 
distances  they  may,  and  may  not  travel  in  pursuit  of  their  occupations, 
in  order  to  render  them  eligible  to  the  possession  of  territory,  and  to 
national  character1? 

We  have  been  told,  that  "  the  pilgrims  of  Plymouth  obtained  their 
right  of  possession  to  the  territory  on  which  they  settled,  by  titles  as 
fair  and  unquestionable  as  any  human  property  can  be  held.  They 
received  their  charter  from  their  British  Sovereign.  The  spot  on  which 
they  fixed  had  belonged  to  an  Indian  tribe,  totally  extirpated  by  that 
devouring  pestilence  which  had  swept  the  country  before  their  arrival. 


The  country  thus  free  from  all  exclusive  possessions,  they  might  have 
taken  by  the  natural  right  of  occupancy."* 

Now,  does  it  not  seem  strange  that  this  should  be  the  only  instance 
since  the  world  was  made,  in  which  a  tribe  of  people  had  been  "  totally 
extirpated"  by  a  devouring  pestilence  1  Is  it  not  astonishing,  that  no 
entire  tribe  of  Indians  has  been  destroyed ;  that  no  state  in  the  Union 
has  been  wholly  depopulated,  by  that  devouring  pestilence,  since  the 
landing  of  the  pilgrims  ? 

But  let  the  nameless  disease,  or  the  yellow  fever,  if  you  please,  de 
stroy  some,  and  drive  back  others,  until  the  inhabitants  shall  all  have  left 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Then  another  company  from  England  may 
land  in  that  place,  and  set  up  their  claims  to  the  district,  by  "  the  natu 
ral  right  of  occupancy."  Such  a  supposed  reversion  of  fortune,  fur 
nishes  its  own  comment. 

They  received  their  Charter  from  their  sovereign.  And  what  right, 
pray,  had  their  sovereign  to  charter  away  the  lands  of  other  people, 
without  their  consent'?  In  that  day,  if  the  land  could  be  called  by  an 
Englishman  "  remote,"  and  its  inhabitants  "  heathen  and  barbarous" 
a  sufficient  pretext  was  found  for  dispossessing  the  rightful  owners,  and 
for  giving  it  to  others.  It  is  on  these  grounds  that  we  hold  our  "  fair 
and  unquestionable  titles"  to  the  country.  To  what  a  pitch  of  vainness 
must  men  have  arrived,  when  they  could  fit  out  ships  and  men  to  take 
possession  of  an  entire  country,  regardless  of  the  rights  of  the  Aborigines, 
and  then  teach  their  children  to  laud  the  innocence  of  such  a  trans 
action  ! 

As  an  apology  for  our  conduct,  we  have  been  told  that  these  were 
"  erratic  nations,"  incapable,  by  the  smallness  of  their  number,  of  peo 
pling  the  whole  country."  Now  I  would  ask  for  some  evidence  to  sup 
port  this  assertion.  Where  is  the  nation,  or  tribe,  that  is  erratic  in  a  na 
tional  capacity]  Precisely  the  reverse  is  the  fact.  It  is  well  known 
that  each  tribe  is  peculiarly  attached  to  its  own  district;  and  few  indi 
viduals  are  found  who  do  not  cling  to  the  land  of  their  ancestors,  and 
hover  over  their  tombs,  until  forced  to  retire  by  means  not  to  be  resisted. 
Let  us  be  pointed  to  one  single  tribe  that  was,  or  is  erratic,  and  so  much 
of  the  matter  at  issue  shall  be  conceded.  But  it  is  fearlessly  asserted 
that  no  such  tribe  has  ever  been  known  to  exist  on  our  continent. 

That  the  Indians  have  emigrated  from  one  country  to  another,  is  not 
.denied  ;  but  it  was  not  because  they  were  wandering  tribes,  which  never 
sought  or  possessed  a  permanent  residence.  The  Delawares,  for  in 
stance,  who  resided  many  years  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Indiana, 
once  inhabited  around  the  Delaware  bay,  and  at  this  time,  most  of  them 
are  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  But  the  reasons  for  their  exchanges 
of  country,  are  too  well  known,  to  allow  us  to  denominate  them  a  wan 
dering  nation. 

Indians  have,  in  some  instances,  migrated  from  one  section  of  coun 
try  to  another,  from  causes  which  existed  wholly  among  themselves; 
and  we  have  done  the  same.  Each  tribe  traverses  at  pleasure  its  own 
district,  as  the  business  of  individuals  requires,  and  we  are  habitually 

*  It  is  not  a  want  of  respect  for  the  venerable  pilgrims  of  Plymouth,  that  indu 
ces  me  to  mention  them  particularly;  but  it  is -because  the  sayings  to  which  I  am 
replying-,  have  lately  come  before  the  public,  and  therefore  claim  particular  atten 
tion. 


7. 

pursuing  a  similar  course  of  conduct.  Individual  Indians,  or  Deputed 
companies,  occasionally  pass  into  the  territories  of  a  tribe  to  which  they 
do  not  belong,  and  by  common  consent,  attend  to  their  private  business, 
or  to  the  business  of  their  tribe.  So,  also,  among  us,  the  people  of  one 
State,  are  ordinarily,  in  the  prosecution  of  their  business,  passing  through 
the  territories  of  others. 

We  are  told  that  "  the  Indians  claim  too  much  territory  for  their 
numbers — they  are  too  thinly  scattered  over  the  country:  Europeans 
have  not,  therefore,  deviated  from  the  views  of  nature  in  confining  them 
within  narrow  limits."  Precisely  the  same  thing  might  be  urged 
against  us  by  Chinese  invaders.  It  is  well  known  that  the  States 
and  territories  in  the  Union,  which  are  at  this  time  partially  settled, 
would  contain  with  convenience,  and  with  increased  convenience  too, 
more  than  five  times  the  number  at  present  inhabiting  them.  Our  Chi 
nese  invaders  might  plead  against  us  our  own  arguments,  that  the  pro 
portion  of  inhabitants  sustained  in  their  country,  was  more  than  tenfold 
greater  than  that  in  ours,  and,  therefore,  they  "  would  not  deviate  from 
the  views  of  nature  in  confining  us  within  narrower  limits." 

Again,  it  has  been  asserted  that  "  the  Indians  have  no  idea  of  a  title 
to  the  soil  itself."  This  is  an  assumption  without  the  shadow  of  rea 
son  ;  indeed,  it  is  at  variance  with  the  recurrence  of  positive  and  well 
known  facts.  It  has  been  the  misfortune  of  the  Indian  that  he  was  in 
capable  of  recording  on  parchment  his  views  of  this  subject,  or  of  pub 
lishing  them  to  the  world,  and  pleading  his  own  cause.  But  ask  the 
Commissioners  of  the  United  States,  wrho  have  encountered  so  many 
difficulties  in  negotiating  with  the  natives  for  cessions  of  their  lands,  and 
they  will  tell  you,  that  the  assumption  is  untenable.  Look  to  the  whole 
course  of  Indian  conduct  relative  to  the  case,  ever  since  the  settlement 
of  whites  on  the  continent,  and  an  united  voice,  as  of  many  waters,  will 
tell  you.  Or,  visit  the  Indians  in  their  tents,  and  they  will  tell  you 
themselves,  and  that  too,  in  expressions  of  grief  and  despair,  that,  un 
less  your  heart  be  cased  in  adamant,  will  make  you  both  sigh  and  weep. 
Indians  are  actually  sitting  by  me  while  I  pen  this  paragraph :  I  cannot 
be  mistaken. 

May  I  not,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  assert  that  no  claim  to  any 
portion  of  the  United  States'  Territories,  can  be  preferred,  which  will 
not  apply  in  favour  of  the  Aborigines  1  Since  it  is  not  true,  that  their 
iitle  is  "  mere  occupancy  for  the  purpose  of  hunting,"  as  we  have  been 
told,  but  that  this  has  been  their  home  for  ages,  beyond  the  stretch  of 
mortal  research,  may  I  not  say  that  their  claims  are,  in  many  respects, 
superior  to  ours,  and  sustained  by  all  the  rules  of  justice  by  which  the 
claims  of  individuals,  States,  and  Nations,  are  supported  ? 

In  defence  of  the  conduct  of  England  and  the  United  States,  we  will 
not  plead  their  superior  strength  over  that  of  the  natives,  because  such 
a  plea  would  be  too  shocking  to  the  well  known  humanity  of  those  na 
tions.  What  then,  may  we  ask,  has  been  the  cause  of  a  departure  from 
the  .common  usage  of  civilized  nations  in  regard  to  the  Indians,  but 
their  ignorance  and  degradation  ? 

But,  in  the  matter  of  Indian  reform,  we  must  take  things  as  we  find 
them.  We  cannot  now  retrace  the  steps  of  two  hundred  years.  And 
further,  the  policy  of  which  we  complain  did  not  originate  with  the 
United  States ;  it  was  commenced  prior  to  the  existence  of  the  Union. 
It  has  been  entailed  on  us,  rather  than  adopted  by  us.  Such  is  the 


8 

Wisdom  with  which  our  government  is  constructed,  that  a  happy  tone 
of  feeling  has,  in  many  honourable  instances,  softened  the  severity  of 
maxims,  to  which  despotic  governments  gave  birth. 

I  shall  omit  a  recital  of  those  considerations  which  are  designed  more 
especially  to  awaken  our  sympathies,  and  content  myself  by  simply 
stating  the  undeniable  fact,  that  on  our  borders  and  within  our  settle 
ments,  thousands  of  these  wretched  people  still  exist.  This  fact  forces 
upon  us  the  inquiiy,  What  ought  to  be  done  with  them,  all  things  con 
sidered?  They  are  evidently,  with  slight  exceptions,  incapable  of  taking 
care  of  themselves.  This  incapacity,  however,  can  no  more  affect  their 
just  rights,  than  a  fever,  which  would  incapacitate  one  of  our  citizens 
for  business,  would  affect  his.  Found  within  the  defined  limits  of  the 
United  States,  it  becomes  our  Government  to  assume  their  guardianship. 
This,  it  will  be  said,  has  been  done.  True ;  but  has  it  not  been  done  at 
the  expense  of  all  Indian  rights  ? 

By  our  Government,  provision  is  made  for  minors  and  invalids.  It 
would  be  affecting  cruelty  to  deprive  such  of  their  just  rights,  to  deny 
the  legality  of  their  claims  to  land,  and  doom  them  and  their  posterity 
to  poverty  and  degradation  ;  to  do  more — to  forbid  them  by  law,  and 
common  prejudices,  to  hope  for  equal  privileges  with  the  more  fortunate. 
Assuming  the  guardianship  of  the  Indians,  and  at  the  same  time  ad 
mitting  the  legality  of  their  claims  to  territoiy,  would  no  more  entitle 
them  to  privileges  among  us  which  they  could  not  judiciously  exercise, 
than  the  laws  of  a  State,  providing  for  minors  and  guarding  their  pro 
perty,  would  entitle  them  to  an  active  voice  in  the  affairs  of  govern 
ment. 

It  has  been  thought  that  by  admitting  the  legality  of  Indian  title  to 
soil,  we  should  concede  to  them  the  entire  right  to  convey  the  same  as 
they  might  choose,  to  foreigners.,  or  to  individuals  of  our  own  nation, 
who  would  take  advantage  of  Indian  ignorance  to  their  immediate  ruin, 
and  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  United  States. 

But  these  conclusions  do  not  necessarily  follow  the  premises  laid 
down.  A  boy  of  ten  years  old  might  be  induced  to  sell  his  patrimony 
for  a  whistle.  The  state  is  at  no  loss  to  provide  against  such  trifling. 
It  assumes  the  management  of  the  property  of  the  minor.  Why  ?  Be 
cause  the  minor  is  incapable  of  managing  it  himself.  In  this  assump 
tion,  the  capacity  only  of  the  minor  is  denied,  not  his  rights.  The  le 
gality  of  his  claim  is  not  predicated  upon  the  supposition  that  he  is  to 
become  an  active  citizen,  but  upon  the  justice  of  the  case.  For,  if  the 
minor  should  decease,  the  same  law  which  secured  the  property  to  him, 
points  to  the  next  legal  claimant,  though  he  also  be  a  minor. 

I  cannot  apprehend  danger  to  my  doctrine,  from  the  mere  circum 
stance,  that  in  one  case  the  supposition  rests  upon  a  descendant  of  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States ;  and,  in  the  other,  upon  one  whose  an 
cestors  have  never  been  acknowledged  as  such.  We  are  speaking  of 
things  as  they  at  this  time  exist.  We  have  marked  off  the  boundaries 
of  the  United  States,  and  have  said,  that  "  the  recognition  of  a  boundaiy 
gives  up  to  the  nation,  in  whose  behalf  it  was  made,  all  the  Indian 
tribes  and  countries  within  that  boundary."  We  have  already  said, 
that  they  belonged  to  us  ;  therefore  they  come  properly  within  the  spirit 
of  the  case  stated  in  relation  to  minors. 

Further,  our  civil  institutions  do  positively  secure  the  rights  of  aliens 
within  our  territories.  They  are  allowed  to  hold  property  in  fee.  Our 


laws  secure  to  them  their  right  in  property  while  they  live,  and  in  case 
of  death,  the  same  descends  securely  to  their  heirs. 

Is  it  argued  that  minors  are  properly  within  the  reach  of  our  laws  ? 
So  are  the  Indians.  Our  laws  extend  to  the  Indians,  just  as  far  as  we 
choose  to  have  them.  We  do  not  impose  on  them  taxes,  nor  any  por 
tion  of  the  burden  of  our  civil,  or  military  institutions.  This  is  so  far 
merely  a  remuneration  for  the  denial  to  them  of  privileges  granted  to 
other  foreigners.  Indians  are  committed  to  our  state  prisons  for  felony, 
and  have  been  regularly  proceeded  against,  in  cases  of  murder,  convict 
ed  and  hung.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  Indians  are  really  cogni 
zable  by  our  laws,  which  are  made  to  affect  them  just  so  far  as,  in  the 
wisdom  of  our  Government,  the  subject  requires ;  and  this  is  the  case 
in  relation  to  minors. 

In  the  present  state  of  things,  I  cannot  conceive  any  reason  why  our 
Government  may  not  exercise  over  them  the  necessary  guardianship, 
and  still  allow  the  legality  of  their  claims  to  the  lands  owned  by  the 
tribes  severally.  Nor  do  I  discover  that  in  admitting  this,  we  necessa 
rily  concede  any  principle  to  our  disadvantage.  That  portion  of  their 
lands  which  our  convenience  requires  us  to  possess,  will  be  placed  no 
farther  out  of  our  reach  than  it  is  at  present.  When,  in  the  construc 
tion  of  public  works,  the  lands  of  minors  are  found  so  situated  as  to 
render  it  necessary  for  government  to  interpose,  they  know  how  to  meet 
the  exigency.  The  land  is  taken,  and  in  lieu  thereof,  a  fair  price  se 
cured  to  the  proper  owner. 

If  some  of  the  Cherokees,  and  others  in  the  south,  who  have  become 
capable  of  understanding  and  contending  for  their  rights,  not  by  arms, 
but  by  argument,  should  be  disinclined  to  part  with  their  lands,  the  cir 
cumstance  would  be  no  more  vexatious  to  us  did  we  admit  their  muni 
cipal  right.  Force  is  not  to  be  used  in  this  case.  Whether  this  for 
bearance  in  our  Government  arises  out  of  the  questionableness  of  the 
tenure  by  which  we  claim,  or  out  of  the  pledges  which,  in  our  "  mode 
ration,"  we  have  given  those  tribes,  or  from  both,  matters  not;  all 
righteous  men  agree  that  their  lands  cannot  be  forced  from  them. 

Moreover,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show,  that  difficulties  in  relation  to 
any  of  our  north-western  tribes,  similar  to  those  which  have  recently 
occurred  with  some  of  the  southern,  may  easily  and  certainly  be  pre 
vented  ;  and  that  by  admitting  the  legality  of  Indian  title  to  their  seve 
ral  territories,  we  shall  place  ourselves  in  full  view,  and  within  conve 
nient  reach,  of  all  the  means  necessary  to  be  employed  in  the  case. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Character  and  Condition  of  the  Indians. 

It  is  remarkable  that  with  the  opportunities  of  more  than  two  centu 
ries  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Aborigines  of  our  country,  their  cha 
racter  and  condition  should  at  all  times  have  been  so  imperfectly  under 
stood  by  us.  It  is  thought  by  some,  whose  judgments  are  doubtless  en 
titled  to  great  respect,  that  no  other  branch  of  public  business  is  so  little 


10 

understood,  as  that  which  relates  to  Indians.  So  little  is  known  even 
by  the  benevolent  Societies,  which  have  been  formed  for  their  relief, 
that  missionaries  who  labour  among  the  natives,  usually  find  far  more 
trouble  in  managing  the  mistaken  notions  of  their  patrons,  than  they  do 
in  contending  with  those  of  the  people  of  their  charge.  Without  pre 
tensions  to  any  remarkable  discoveries  on  this  subject,  I  beg  leave  to 
state  a  few  things  relative  to  their  character  and  condition,  which  my 
long  residence  in  their  country  has  afforded  me  an  opportunity  of  ob 
serving. 

I  have  supposed  that  Indian  calamities,  as  they  now  exist,  originated 
in  their  degradation,  and  have  until  this  time  been  cherished  by  the 
same  general  cause.  This  is  not  a  solitary  case ;  the  condition  of  the 
wretched  Africans  is  fully  in  point,  and  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  po 
sition  we  have  taken.  No  one  will  venture  to  say  that  the  African  is 
enslaved  because  of  the  blackness  of  his  skin  ;  neither  can  any  man  of 
sober  mind,  suppose  the  thing  in  itself  to  accord  with  the  laws  of  justice 
between  man  and  man.  The  fact  is,  Africa,  that  portion  at  least  of 
which  we  speak,  is  too  destitute  of  national  character  to  command  re 
spect,  and  therefore,  in  the  usage  of  other  nations,  its  natives  cease  to 
be  treated  as  human  beings  entitled  to  common  rights. 

Her  oppression  is  not  owing  to  a  want  of  physical  strength  to  contend 
with  other  nations.  She  is  not  the  only  nation  incompetent  to  with 
stand  the  power  of  her  neighbours  ;  and  yet  the  people  of  those  weaker 
nations  are  not  shipped  by  thousands  for  slave  markets.  Whatever 
Africa  may  suffer,  she  is  incapable  of  complaining.  Raise  her  in  point 
of  talent  even  with  Portugal,  and  slave  ships  might  as  well  go  to  Ire 
land  to  lade,  as  to  Guinea. 

Men  as  they  come  into  existence  are  pretty  much  on  an  equality. 
Whether  we  find  the  infant  in  the  bark  wigwam,  or  in  the  lordly  palace, 
it  is  subsequently  that  he  is  to  be  made  the  savage  or  the  sage.  For  it 
is  not  a  question  at  all,  whether  the  mental  faculties  of  Indians  gene 
rally,  are  equal  to  those  of  their  more  enlightened  neighbours.  The 
fact  is  universally  admitted.  But  with  them,  there  being  a  total  absence 
of  the  thousand  means  which  operate  to  produce  refinement  of  society, 
they  continue  unimproved  through  every  stage  of  life.  They  are  chil 
dren  of  nature  merely,  from  the  infant  lashed  to  the  board,  to  the  wrin 
kled  father  who  bends  over  the  tomb. 

At  first  sight  of  Indians  by  Europeans,  there  became  fixed  in  the  lat 
ter  a  consciousness  of  superiority,  which  still  exists,  and  is  evinced  in 
all  our  conduct  in  relation  to  them.  We  never  meet  an  Indian  on  a 
level,  as  we  meet  a  white  man ;  we  always  look  down  upon  him. 

This  self-complaisance  may,  in  no  small  measure,  be  traced  to  the 
odium  entailed  on  them  by  Europeans,  and  which,  unfortunately,  has 
not  been  removed  by  our  better  Government.  They  have  neither  been 
allowed  the  privileges  granted  to  other  foreigners,  nor  the  protection 
granted  to  every  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Even  the  inhabitant  of 
a  cell  in  a  States'  prison  retains  inviolable  his  right  in  property — his 
posterity  are  not  forbidden  to  aspire  above  the  evils  occasioned  by  the 
crimes  of  an  unprincipled  father.  But  of  the  Indian  we  say,  he  has  no 
legal  title  to  the  soil.  In  this  respect  he  is  virtually  placed  beneath 
the  condition  of  the  most  degraded  of  our  own  citizens.  Were  they 
allowed  the  rights  of  others,  the  feelings-  of  our  community  generally 
might  become  such  as  we  exercise  towards  other  poor  people,  but  it 


11 

seems  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things  that  the  prejudices  of  society, 
so  destructive  to  them,  can  subside,  so  long  as  the  principle  exists  which 
confirms  their  degradation.  Like  Cain,  they  are  driven  out  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  are  become  fugitives  and  vagabonds  in  it,  and 
every  one  who  finds  them,  heaps  upon  them  miseries  according  to  the 
spirit  of  the  times. 

Few,  even  of  those  who  declare  themselves  to  be  devoutly  in  favour 
of  Indian  reform,  are  aware  of  the  extent  of  Indian  degradation ;  I 
mean,  the  distance  beneath  us  at  which  our  feelings  place  them — or, 
of  the  extent  of  the  affecting  consequences.  Of  the  latter,  we  may 
judge  by  the  facts,  that  since  our  settlement  in  the  country,  several  tribes 
have  become  totally  extinct;  while  to  others  is  left  a  remnant,  lan 
guishing  under  evils,  which  menace  the  existence  of  the  whole  Indian 
population. 

I  attempt  no  exaggeration.  My  subject  needs  not  the  aid  of  paint 
ing.  Facts,  stubborn  facts,  immoveable  as  mountains,  can  be  pro 
duced. 

Before  we  proceed  further,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  there  are 
many,  very  many,  abuses  of  power,  of  office,  and  of  granted  license, 
in  car  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  which  have  never  been  fairly  ex 
hibited  to  the  public ;  abuses,  with  which  our  Government  is  in  no 
way  chargeable  :  of  which  it  is  formally,  and  in  most  instances,  totally 
unacquainted,  and  which  1  shall  not  attempt  to  expose.  My  object  is 
not  to  attach  blame  to  any  individual,  or  to  any  particular  class  of  men 
among  us.  For,  were  errors  of  this  kind  to  be  corrected,  which  indeed 
is  desirable  enough,  still  no  more  would  be  done,  than  the  lopping  off 
of  some  of  the  exterior  branches,  while  the  main  body  and  roots  would 
remain  in  full  vigour.  The  axe  must  be  applied  to  the  root  of  the  tree. 
From  the  days  of  Elliot  down  to  the  present  time,  the  grand  mistake 
in  the  business  of  Indian  reform,  seems  to  have  been,  applying  emolli 
ents  to  the  surface  of  the  sore,  instead  of  probing  the  wound  to  the  bot 
tom.  There  is  something  among  us,  not  among  the  Indians,  radically 
wrong  in  this  business :  this  wrong  must  be  righted,  or  the  Indians  must 
be  ruined,  and  Christians  reproached. 

I  would  ask  those  sorrowful  hearts,  which  express  astonishment  that 
the  Indians  on  our  north-western  boundaries,  should  continue  so  long  in 
this  fertile,  fine  country,  to  suffer,  pine,  and  perish;  if  they  suppose 
any  other  race  of  human  beings  would  do  otherwise,  under  similar  cir 
cumstances  1  Our  children  are  forced  up  the  elevation  of  improvement 
by  artificial  operations  of  a  thousand  kinds  ;  but  this  machinery  is  not 
brought  to  bear  in  like  manner  on  the  improvement  of  the  Indians. 
With  all  the  pains  taken  to  smooth  our  sons  of  nature,  too  many  of 
them  at  last  remain  crooked  and  rough.  No  wonder  then,  if  in  the  ab 
sence  of  vital  principles,  the  experiment  of  Indian  reform  should  dis 
appoint  our  hope. 

You  have  your  missionaries  at  Gayhead,  Stockbridge,  Brothertown, 
Oneida,  among  the  Tuscaroras,  Tonawantas,  Senecas,  Wyandots,  Ot- 
tawas,  Puttawatomies,  Miamies,  &c.  but  the  most  that  they  can  do  in 
the  present  posture  of  affairs,  is  to  soften,  as  it  were,  the  pillows  of  the 
dying.  They  have  been  instrumental  in  benefiting  a  few;  nevertheless, 
in  a  national  capacity,  all  those  tribes,  as  well  as  others  near  at  hand, 
west  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  west  of  Mississippi  river,  continue  to  dwin 
dle — they  are  positively  perishing,  and  perishing  rapidly. 


12 

Through  the  instrumentality  of  your  missionaries,  some  of  the  natives, 
no  doubt,  have  become  pious,  and  have  gone,  or  will  go,  to  a  better 
country  in  the  heavens,  where  their  condition  will  be  ordered  by  princi 
ples  very  different  from  those  which  have  governed  the  conduct  of  men 
towards  them,  while  upon  earth.  A  few  have  acquired  some  knowledge 
of  letters,  and  of  labour  ;  so  far  this  is  well.  But  let  none  imagine  that 
these  tribes,  and  many  others,  are,  as  tribes,  improving  their  condition 
generally.  I  say  it,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  their  condition 
is  becoming  more  and  more  miserable  every  year — I  repeat  it — they  are 
positively  perishing. 

How  can  it  be  otherwise  !  What  is  there  to  induce  a  love  of  life,  or 
to  stimulate  to  good  action,  with  an  Indian  7  Whether  the  reflection  be 
just  or  not,  he  views  himself  completely  at  the  disposal  of  a  people  who 
have  taken  from  him  his  country  ;  I  do  not  say  his  hunting  ground,  I 
say  his  home,  where  sleep  his  fathers  back  to  unknown  generations ;  a 
people  who  declare  that  he  never  had  a  legal  right  to  the  soil.  In  ad 
dition  to  this,  he  finds  that  no  man  treats  him  as  an  equal.  The  very 
manner  of  salutation  to  an  Indian,  and  the  mode  of  conversation  with 
him,  remind  him  that  he  is  considered  as  an  inferior. 

You  point  your  children  to  examples  of  respectability  in  civil  society, 
and  exhort  them  to  walk  in  their  footsteps,  in  the  confident  expectation 
of  possessing  that  character  which  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  gold  and 
silver — than  "  precious  ointment."  The  Indian,  in  view  of  the  same 
example,  could  only  say,  "  My  son,  that  is  what  the  world  calls  a  re 
spectable,  honourable  man,  but  it  is  impossible  for  you  ever  to  arrive  at 
similar  honours."  Thus  from  childhood  the  innate  passion  for  fame, 
essential  to  human  greatness,  when  kept  within  the  influence  of  meek 
ness  and  prudence,  is  stifled  by  every  thing  which  surrounds  it. 

But  one  will  say,  Why  do  not  the  Indians  adopt  habits  of  industry ; 
and  the  circumstance  itself  of  the  acquisition  of  property  would  operate 
powerfully  to  conquer  the  prejudices  of  their  white  neighbours,  and 
might  enable  them  to  take  hold  on  all  the  means  essential  to  their  great 
ness  ? 

All  this  is  true  ;  but  where  is  the  spot  on  the  continent  upon  which  it 
could  be  expected  that  they  would  feel  encouraged  to  labour  ?  They 
are  at  best  only  tenants  at  the  will  of  our  Government.  Where  is  the 
place  on  which  they  can  erect  houses  in  the  hope  of  inhabiting  them,  and 
make  fields  in  the  expectation  of  being  allowed  to  cultivate  them?  They 
can  call  no  place  on  earth  their  own,  and  therefore  it  is  not  astonishing 
that  they  should  generally  be  disinclined  to  habits  of  industry.  None 
of  the  tribes  have  an  assurance  of  undisturbed  possession  of  any  spot. 
If  we  ought  to  make  an  exception,  it  would  relate  to  the  little  patches 
in  New- York  and  the  New-England  States;  and  these,  whatever  may 
be  their  liberties  to  remain,  are  so  situated  as  to  be  exposed  to  destroy 
ing  evils  by  which  their  numbers  are  diminished  much  more  rapidly 
than  if  they  were  upon  our  frontiers,  where  they  would  be  allowed  room 
to  run,  as  the  whites  approached  them. 

I  have  said  that  among  us,  not  among  the  Indians,  there  was  some-r 
thing  radically  wrong  in  relation  to  that  wretched  people  of  whom  we 
speak.  In  evidence  of  this  assertion,  I  appeal  to  the  fact  that  the  con 
dition  of  the  Indians  becomes  more  and  more  deplorable,  as  the  whites 
approach  nearer  to  them.  Those  who  are  pent  up  by  the  whites  on 
small  reservations  in  New-England,  New- York,  and  Ohio,  decline  more 


13 

rapidly  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  than  the  tribes  farther  west,  on 
the  borders  of  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Illinois;  and  the  decline  of  these 
latter  is  more  rapid  in  proportion  than  those  still  more  remote.  Let  it 
stiJl  be  borne  in  mind,  that  wherever  we  discover  a  decrease  of  numbers, 
we  see  an  increase  of  calamities ;  and  the  increase  is  not  chiefly  on  ac 
count  of  the  wild  game  being  chased  away  by  the  sound  of  the  white 
man's  axe,  as  has  sometimes  been  supposed.  For  were  there  not  greater 
evils  to  which  they  are  subjected ;  were  they  permanently  settled,  un 
touched  by  any  morbid  atmosphere  emanating  from  us,  they  would  na 
turally  enlarge  the  field  as  the  wild  game  decreased. 

Numerous  are  the  evils  resulting  to  these  people  from  the  approach  of 
the  whites ;  (a  poor  commendation  indeed  of  a  Christian  nation)  but 
perhaps  all' these  evils  may  be  traced  to  the  same  general  cause — the 
mark  of  infamy  fixed  upon  them  by  the  whites.  As  to  commerce,  they 
are  not  approached  as  men  entitled  to  just  dealings,  but  are  considered 
as  fair  game  for  every  sharper.  It  is  true.  Government  has  made  laws 
regulating  Indian  trade.  But  the  trade  is  riot  carried  on  in  Washington 
city,  where  the  President  of  the  United  States  can  daily  look  into  it. 
It  is  carried  on  in  the  Indian  country,  extending  into  the  forest  a  thou 
sand  miles  from  our  settlements.  It  is  not  possible  for  Government  to 
guard  the  rights  of  the  Indians  in  such  situations  ;  even  in  the  little  pro 
perty  they  acquire  in  peltries  and  fur.  Those  generally,  who  are  em 
ployed,  as  clerks,  &c.  and  sent  into  the  Indian  country  with  goods,  are 
not  remarkable  for  scruples  of  conscience.  Our  chief  hope,  therefore, 
that  justice  in  dealing  will  be  done  to  the  Indians,  arises  from  competi 
tion  in  trade.  We  have  not  so  much  cause  to  complain  of  prices  as 
nominally  fixed,  as  we  have  of  impositions  practiced  upon  Indians,  for 
which  they  can  obtain  no  possible  redress. 

The  example  of  unprincipled  white  men  among  the  natives,  is  ex 
tremely  pernicious,  and  tends  greatly  to  debase  their  minds.  But  the 
destroying  effects  of  ardent  spirits  among  them,  is  horrid  in  the  extreme, 
Whiskey,  they  find  all  over  their  country,  but  find  it  more  plentifully  as 
they  are  situated  nearer  to  the  white  settlements. 

In  these  latter  cases,  our  Government  is  not  at  all  blameable,  only  as 
it  has  rendered  the  Indians  radically  ignominious.  It  has  made  laws 
forbidding  the  introduction  of  ardent  spirits  into  their  countiy;  but  it 
has  not  powrer,  in  the  present  posture  of  affairs,  to  enforce  their  observ 
ance.  The  evils  of  intemperance  have  not  been  perceiveably  lessened 
by  all  the  laws  made  to  repress  it.  It  is  a  lamentable  truth,  that  the 
evil  increases  annually,  and  occasions  a  fearful  \vaste  of  human  life  ; 
as  a  specimen,  take  the  following.  In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1825 — 6, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Carey  Missionary  Station,  near  Lake 
Michigan,  twenty-five  Indians  were  either  directly  murdered  by  the 
hands  of  their  own  people,  or  otherwise  lost  their  lives,  by  drunkenness. 

Besides  this,  there  is  a  mass  of  misery,  indescribable  in  its  character, 
resulting  from  this  same  source;  such  as  the  destruction  of  health, 
aggravated  poverty,  distresses  of  hundreds  of  half-starved  children,  &c. 
Missionaries,  who,  after  much  labour  by  precept  and  example,  have 
kindled  up  a  little  spirit  of  improvement  among  the  people  of  their 
charge,  have,  again  and  again,  had  the  mortification  to  see  the  same 
almost  entirely  extinguished,  by  this  irresistible  evil.  Under  all  the 
destructive,  discouraging  obstacles,  arising  from  intoxication,  and  from 
numerous  other  sources,  it  is  astonishing  that  missionaries  should  be 


14 

able  to  collect  schools,  secure  a  tolerable  attendance,  and  in  otber  re 
spects,  really  improve  the  condition  of  a  few. 

Friends  to  the  natives  are  apt  to  solace  themselves,  with  the  reflection 
that  the  days  of  war  and  bloodshed,  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Indians  are  past — all  is  now  peace.  The  Indians  may  pursue  their 
modes  of  living  without  the  wastirigs  and  woes  of  war.  But  will  you 
believe  me,  if  I  say,  that  the  Indians  generally  are  more  miserable,  and 
that  they  waste  away  faster,  when  at  peace  with  us,  than  when  at  war? 
I  presume  there  is  no  doubt  of  this  fact  with  any  one,  who  has  an  op 
portunity  of  discovering  the  process  of  Indian  affairs  among  themselves. 
The  truth  is,  the  hope  of  .bettering  their  condition  for  the  present,  for 
they  cannot  see  far  off,  is  a  prominent  consideiation  with  them,  in  in 
ducing  hostilities.* 

Our  Government  has  always  granted  to  the  Indians  peace,  whenever 
they  asked  for  it.  Therefore,  if  at  any  time  they  believed  their  condi 
tion  to  be  the  worse  for  war  with  us,  they  knew  that  they  could  make 
the  exchange  for  peace.  In  time  of  war,  they  and  we  are  necessarily 
separated ;  and  on  this  account  the  cankerous  evils  which  result  to  them 
from  coming  into  direct  contact  with  us,  are  avoided. 

I  took  the  liberty,  not  long  since,  of  suggesting  that  the  condition  of 
those  small  bands  who  are  on  little  reservations  in  New-England,  New- 
York,  and  Ohio,  surrounded  by  white  population,  is  worse  than  that  of 
those  who  have  more  latitude  on  our  frontier.  It  is  probable  that  they 
may  be  more  plentifully  supplied  with  food  and  raiment,  but  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  repeating  that  their  numbers  decrease  faster  than  those  of 
the  other  tribes ;  and  that  they  are  more  debased  in  principle,  and  posi 
tively  more  worthless,  than  those  with  whom  I  am  comparing  them. 
This  sentiment  is  the  result  of  my  own  personal  observation,  as  well  as 
of  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  most  authentic  information. 

Man  is  formed  for  society.  The  seclusion  of  the  hermit  is  a  depar 
ture  from  the  directions  of  nature.  Society  we  must  have,  and  if  we 
cannot  be  allowed  that  which  is  good,  we  must  mingle  with  that  which 
is  worse.  The  society  which  Indians  generally  find  among  the  whites, 
is  that  of  the  most  degraded  and  worthless  kind ;  and  those  who  are 
pent  up  by  the  whites,  feel  the  effect  of  this  principle  most  sensibly. 
Even  the  good  men,  who  surround  and  pity  them,  do  not  take  them 
into  their  society  as  they  would  so  many  whites,  under  similar  circum 
stances.  Doomed,  therefore,,  to  mingle  with  their  own  corrupt  selves, 
and  the  very  filth  of  civilized  society,  from  infancy  to  old  age,  and  from 
generation  to  generation,  they  grow  worse  and  worse. 

What,  let  me  ask  the  reader,  could  you  hope  for  from  your  own  sons 
and  daughters,  were  they  destined  to  be  brought  up  in  similar  circum 
stances  1  What  can  be  more  deplorable  than  the  condition  of  this 
scattered,  pealed,  and  perishing  people  !  When  parents  improve  the 
passing  moments  around  the  cheerful  fireside,  in  encouraging  counsel 
to  their  hopeful  sons  and  daughters,  well  fed  and  warm,  let  them  not 
forget  the  thousands  of  families  in  the  wilderness,  each  couched  around 
a  little  fire,  half-starved,  half-naked,  and  homeless. 

You  are  directing  your  children  to  habits  of  industry,  by  which  they 
may  secure  a  competency  of  the  blessings  of  nature.  They  are  to 

*  Exceptions  to  these  remarks,  when  applied  to  the  southern  Indians,  will  be 
explained  hereafter. 


15 

have  fields  and  houses,  shops  and  ships.  To  them  are  explained  the 
comforts  of  virtue,  and  the  pleasures  of  good  society.  To  their  view 
are  held  up  the  offices  of  trust,  honour,  and  profit,  in  the  most  happy 
and  flourishing  government  that  ever  existed.  Now,  you  say,  my  sons 
and  my  daughters,  with  us  there  are  no  privileged  orders.  God  and 
nature  hold  out  to  you  these  incentives  to  virtue,  greatness,  and  happi 
ness  ;  over  which  is  inscribed  in  golden  capitals,  "  Whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  of  them  freely."  Listen  now,Ientreat  you,  to  the  language  of  yon 
Indian  father  and  mother,  to  their  sons  and  their  daughters.  "  Children, 
you  see  and  feel  our  wretchedness  this  stormy  night.  You  have  no 
prospect  before  you,  but  that  of  increasing  calamities.  Our  situation  is 
more  lamentable  than  was  that  of  our  father  and  mother,  and  yours  is 
destined  to  be  still  more  dreadful ;  and  every  generation  of  us,  is  doom 
ed  to  sink  deeper,  and  deeper,  and  deeper,  in  woes,  until  the  last  of  our 
tribe  sinks  into  the  depths  of  oblivion.  We  are  melting  away  before  a 
people  of  superior  wisdom  and  strength;  who,  with  lordly  looks,  are 
striding  over  the  lands  on  which  have  dwelt  our  fathers  back  to  unknown 
ages,  declaring  us  ineligible  to  a  participation  with  them  in  the  blessings 
which  they  so  plentifully  enjoy  !" 

What  can  we  expect  of  a  people  under  such  circumstances,  but  that 
they  give  up  all  for  lost,  and  like  too  many  among  us,  who  only  fancy 
themselves  in  desperate  circumstances,  abandon  themselves  to  drunk 
enness,  and  to  every  abomination?  We  do  not  pretend  that  all  their 
poverty  and  sins  have  grown  out  of  the  circumstance  of  our  becoming 
their  neighbours.  They  were  poor  and  wicked  when  we  first  beheld 
them.  But  we  say,  that  their  depravity  and  sufferings  have  been  in 
creased  by  our  proximity  to  them,  and  their  hopes  cut  off  by  our  policy. 
They  are  too  deeply  sunk  in  the  mire,  to  be  able  to  extricate  themselves. 
It  therefore  rests  with  us  to  say,  whether  they  shall  be  left  to  perish,  or 
whether  they  can  be,  and  shall  be,  "  taken  out  of  the  horrible  pit,  and 
miry  clay,  and  set  upon  a  rock,  and  their  goings  established  ;" — or  ra 
ther,  they  established  in  a  home  which  they  can  call  their  own. 

It  has  been  greatly  the  misfortune  of  Indians  that  their  white  neigh 
bours  have  generally  supposed  them  to  be  inflexibly  attached  to  their 
huntings,  and  other  wild  customs. 

To  admit  that  Indians  are  attached  to  the  modes  of  life  to  which 
they  have  been  accustomed,  and  to  their  religious  ceremonies,  is  saying: 
nothing  more  than  that  they  are  human  beings ;  for  such  is  the  case  with 
all  people.  But  there  is  scarcely  a  heathen  nation  upon  earth,  of  which  we 
might  not,  with  more  propriety,  suppose  that  such  attachments  were 
inflexible.  The  Aborigines  were  never,  since  we  became  ac 
quainted  with  them,  worshippers  of  Idols.  We  all  know  that  there  ex 
ist  among  them  religious  ceremonies,  which  are  taught  by  parents  ta 
children ;  but  they  have  no  ecclesiastical  idolatrous  establishments,  like 
the  Chinese,  Burmese,  or  Hindoos.  The  Indians  believe  in  the  exist 
ence  of  God — the  Great  Spirit,  and  of  other  Good  Spirits.  They  be 
lieve  in  the  existence  of  evil  spirits ;  among  whom  they  suppose  one,  who 
deserves  to  be  styled,  the  "  very  bad  spirit." 

These  notions  of  God,  and  of  his  superintending  providence,  have 
had  a  tendency  to  ennoble  their  minds,  as  well  as  their  acts,  and  to 
render  them  superior  to  most  heathen  nations  in  point  of  liberal  views.* 

*  It  has  been  stated  by  some  good,  but  mistaken  men,  that  the  Osages  did  not 
believe  in  the  existence  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  in  other  kindred  doctrines.  Had 
this  been  true  it  would  have  formed  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  Indian  character 


16 

Indeed,  I  think  that,  in  a  comparison  of  religious  sentiments  with  the 
Indians,  some  refined  people  in  Christendom  ought  to  blush  at  their  own 
bigotted  attachments.  I  suppose  the  natives  have  always  been  in  the 
habit  of  killing  witches ;  but  [  very  much  question  if  ever  there  was  a 
man  upon  the  continent  chased  out  of  his  country,  imprisoned,  or 
whipped,  for  his  religion,  before  the  settlement  of  the  whites  in  it. 

We  admit,  that  with  all  its  hardships,  there  is  something  fascinating 
in  the  life  of  the  hunter  ;  the  white  man  on  our  frontiers  feels  it.  Yet 
it  is  certain  that  the  attachment  of  the  Indians  to  a  hunter's  life  is  not 
so  obstinate  but  that  they  will  voluntarily  exchange  it  for  a  better, 
whenever  they  become  situated  where  the  love  of  life,  and  the  hope  of 
enjoyment,  can  be  cherished  in  their  bosoms.  This  has  been  the  case 
with  the  Cherokees,  and  some  others  to  the  south  who  have  adopted 
habits  of  civilized  life. 

It  was  not  merely  the  diminution  of  the  wild  game  which  induced 
those  southern  Indians  to  abandon  the  chase,  for  hundreds  of  them  are 
now  decently  farming  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  contiguous  to 
good  hunting  grounds.  They  have  adopted  civilized  habits  because  of 
their  superior  advantages  to  the  hunter  state.  These  people  have  rea 
dily  enough  relinquished  attachments  to  Indian  habits,  not  because 
their  prejudices  were  originally  less  obstinate  than  those  of  other  tribes, 
but  because  they  happened  to  be  situated  where  their  hopes  of  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  their  labours  were  more  encouraging  than  those  of  their 
more  unfortunate  northern  brethren. 

To  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  who  are  engaged  in  the  labour  of 
Indian  reform,  I  add  my  own  unqualified  assertion,  resulting  from  an 
experience  of  more  than  ten  years  actual  residence  in  the  Indian  coun 
try,  that  there  exists  among  our  Indians  no  attachment  to  any  pernicious 
manners  or  customs,  that  will  not  yield  to  sound  argument,  righteous 
example,  and  the  offer  of  a  better  condition.  I  suppose  that  no  heathen 
nation  on  the  earth  can  be  found,  so  easily  accessible  to  all  the  customs 
which  render  civilized  life  blessed,  and  to  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
which  guide  to  heaven,  as  the  American  Indians  were,  when  Europeans 
first  became  acquainted  with  them.  The  entire  absence  of  idolatry,  of 
established  forms  of  religion,  to  which  all  must  bend,  and  their  ideas  of 
the  existence  of  God,  and  1  will  add,  of  the  sources  of  good  and  evil, 
threw  the  door  of  access  to  them  wide  open.  Had  they  not  at  that 
time  been  trampled  under  our  feet — had  they  been  approached  as  men, 
entitled  to  meet  their  fellow  men  upon  equitable  terms — had  they  been 
greeted  with  the  charities  of  our  holy  religion,  our^  better  things  would 
have  been  received  by  them  with  open  arms,  and  every  tribe  would  have 
called  us  blessed. 

In  our  northern  districts,  attempts  were  made  in  very  early  times,  by 
worthy  men,  to  reform  the  Aborigines.  While  we  are  happy  in  the 

and  manners.  Since  the  first  edition  of  this  manual  was  published,  I  have  been 
at  most  of  the  Osage  villages,  and  I  must  say  that  no  tribe  with  which  I  am  ac 
quainted  gives  more  unequivocal  evidence  than  they  do,  of  belief  in  the  existence 
of  God,  his  superintending  providence,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

An  inquirer  seldom  has  the  good  fortune  to  understand  the  Indian's  language, 
his  modes  of  thinking,  or  his  notions  of  decorum.  The  Indian  generally  hears 
questions  as  the  result  of  mischievous  design,  of  impertinence,  or  of  stupidity. 
Against  the  first  he  cautiously  guards,  the  second  he  insults,  and  with  the  last  he 
sports.  Hence  his  answers  are  usually  insincere. 


17 

opinion  that  no  effort  for  the  christianizing  of  the  Indians,  was  wholly- 
unsuccessful,  we  must  deeply  regret,  what  we  now  distinctly  perceive, 
that  those  well-meant,  labours  were  performed  under  all  the  disadvantages 
of  blind  European  prejudices  in  relation  to  the  Indians.  Those  pious 
hearts  had  too  recently  been  transplanted  from  the  sterile  plains  of  re 
ligious  bigotry,  to  expand  with  liberal  views  of  the  character,  and  of  the 
just  rights  of  man. 

Missionaries  in  these  days  are  enabled  to  profit  by  the  days  that  are 
past.  But  now  they  find  the  prejudices  of  the  natives  exceedingly  ob 
stinate  ;  they  have  been  matured  by  more  than  two  hundred  years,  and 
cherished  by  a  thousand  considerations,  each  of  which  has  annually 
grown  heavier  and  heavier:  after  all,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it  is 
not  inflexible  attachment  to  the  hunter  state,  or  to  other  rude  habits  or 
ceremonies,  of  which  missionaries  complain.  It  is  a  want  of  confidence 
in  the  purity  of  our  motives.  The  Indians  feel  themselves  forsaken 
and  friendless.  The  proffered  hand  of  friendship  has,  a  thousand  times 
proved  a  snare,  and  the  voice  of  kindness  been  deceptive.  With  what 
spirit  remains  to  them  from  the  ravages  of  dissipation  and  despair,  they 
feel  towards  us,  as  we  should  feel  towards  invaders  of  our  country  and 
rights,  who  were  fattened  with  plentitude,  and  basking  in  affluence,  on 
the  fields  of  our  fathers,  while  we,  with  our  ragged,  half-starved  off 
spring,  stood  soliciting  the  elm  to  lend  us  his  coat  to  shelter  us  from  the 
snow.  But  convince  the  Indians  that  you  are  true  men,  and  not  spies, 
that  though  they  had  thought  the  Great  Spirit  deaf  to  their  groans,  and 
all  men  had  risen  up  against  them,  yet  he  does  pity,  they  have  some 
sincere  friends,  and  they  will  leap  for  joy.  Yes,  I  have  seen  them  un 
der  such  circumstances  melted  into  tears.  I  have  seen  that  their  confi 
dence  swelled  to  extremes,  and  in  their  enthusiasm  they  were  ready  to 
deem  the  missionary  more  than  an  ordinary  man. 

Indians  are  not  untameable.  Give  them  a  country  as  their  own, 
under  circumstances  which  will  enable  them  to  feel  their  importance, 
where  they  can  hope  to  enjoy,  unmolested,  the  fruits  of  their  labours, 
and  their  national  recovery  need  not  be  doubted.  But,  let  the  policy 
of  our  Government  in  relation  to  them,  continue  as  it  has  been,  and  as 
it  now  is,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Cherokees,  and  their  immediate 
neighbours,  I  know  of  no  tribe,  nor  part  of  a  tribe,  no,  not  one,  within, 
or  near  to  all  the  frontiers  of  Arkansaw,  Missouri,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Michigan,  or  Ohio,  nor  one  of  those  bands  on  small  reservations  in 
New-York  or  New-England,  of  whom  we  can  indulge  any  better  hope 
than  that  of  their  total  extermination.  Even  over  those  whom  we  have 
excepted  above,  a  gloomy  cloud  is  gathering,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
hereafter. 

I  fear  the  public  are  not  fully  aware  of  this  fact,  especially  the  Chris 
tian  public,  who  would  more  especially  shudder  at  the  thought,  and  who 
have  been  hoping  for  better  things.  I  fear,  too,  that  missionaries  are 
sometimes  afraid  to  tell  the  worst  of  this  part  of  the  story,  lest  the  bene 
volent  societies  and  individuals  at  a  distance,  who  patronize  the  mis 
sions,  should  become  discouraged,  and  decline  the  prosecution  of 
the  undertaking.  I  know  that  there  cannot  exist  with  them,  any  sinis 
ter  motive  to  such  a  forbearance,  because  their  labours,  the  labours  of 
their  whole  lives,  are  gratuitously  devoted  to  this  enterprise.  But,  they 
have  been  eye-witnesses  of  Indian  wickedness  and  sufferings.  They 
have  heard  fathers  begging  them  to  have  mercy  on  them  and  their  off- 

3 


18 

spring,  and  entreating  them  not  to  forsake  them ;  they  have  seen  the 
mother  digging  roots  for  her  children,  and  have  beheld  the  emaciated 
frames  of  those  who,  in  winter,  had  lived  weeks  upon  acorns  only,  or 
who,  in  summer,  had  fed  for  days  upon  boiled  weeds  alone.  They 
have  heard  the  cries  of  children  suffering  with  hunger,  and  seen  the 
frozen  limbs  of  the  half-naked  sufferer.  Among  these  wretched  people 
they  have  formed  congregations,  which  delight  to  hear  of  "  a  better 
country,"  and  with  whom  they  unite  in  grayer  and  praise.  They  have 
collected  scores  of  lovely  children  into  their  schools  and  families,  who 
are  taught  to  call  them  fathers  and  mothers,  and  to  look  to  them  as 
their  best  friends,  without  whose  help  they  are  undone.  They  have 
heard  some  of  these  children  in  secret  prayer,  covered  with  the  mantle 
of  night,  upon  their  knees  imploring  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  to  re 
ward  the  kindness  of  their  benefactors,  to  continue  his  mercies  to  them 
selves,  and  to  pity  their  less  favoured,  their  suffering  kindred.  Under 
these,  and  kindred  considerations,  missionaries  dare  not  indulge  a  thought 
of  forsaking  the  people  of  their  charge.  For  them  they  will  labour,  in 
their  sorrows  they  will  sympathise,  and  among  their  tombs  they  will 
be  buried.  It  is  possible  that,  under  the  influence  of  such  zeal  for  the 
temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  the  Indians,  missionaries  may  fear  to 
tell  what  they  think  might  be  heard  with  discouragement  by  the  patrons 
of  missions.  These  are  the  reasons  for  the  omission,  if  they  have  not 
fully  advertized  the  public,  that  the  tribes  to  which  I  have  just  referred, 
are  perishing — are  perishing.  If  there  is  any  missionary  among  the 
tribes  under  consideration,  who  can  say  otherwise  of  the  people  of  his 
charge,  let  him  publish  the  fact,  and  I  will  rejoice  that  I  have  been  mis 
taken,  and  I  will  join  him  in  hosannas  to  the  Son  of  David. 

A  brief  recapitulation  of  the  foregoing,  furnishes  us  with  the  fol 
lowing  summary : — Europeans  brought  with  them  to  this  country 
undue  prejudices  against  the  Aborigines ;  they  viewed  them  as  a  con 
temptible  race,  undeserving  the  rights  of  nations  or  of  men.  The  com 
mencement  of  their  career,  in  matters  relating  to  the  Indians,  was  radi 
cally  wrong,  and  upon  these  wrong  principles  we  have  ever  since  acted. 
We  cannot  go  back  and  undo  the  errors  of  two  hundred  years. 
We  find  a  suffering  people  calling  on  us  for  sympathy  and  for  justice, 
the  peculiarities  of  whose  condition  give  extraordinary  weight  to  their 
claims  upon  both.  These  people,  with  few  exceptions,  are  positively 
perishing,  and  perishing  rapidly.-  They  will  inevitably  be  extirminated, 
unless  we  rescue  them.  The  present  course  of  kindness  towards  them, 
of  our  Government,  of  Societies,  and  of  individuals,  will  not  prevent 
their  ruin,  because  they  continue  to  sink  deeper  and  deeper  in  wo. 

To  this  summary  we  append  the  following  inquiries.  Do  we  possess 
ample  means  of  placing  this  suffering  people,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
blessings  of  civilized  life,  as  participated  commonly  by  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  1  Can  these  means  be  employed  without  injustice  to 
ourselves,  as  a  nation,  in  the  present  posture  of  affairs  1  To  these 
questions  I  humbly,  but  very  confidently,  undertake  to  reply. 


CHAPTER  III. 

In  the  claims  of  Indians  to  the  soil,  we  find  ample  means  for  all  the  pur 
poses  of  Indian  reform. 

I  have  already  attempted  to  prove  that  the  Indians  have  a  legal  right 
to  the  soil  of  the  territories  they  inhabit,  until  the  same  be  by  them  fairly 
transferred.  We  have  admitted  their  incapacity  to  manage  their  own 
affairs ;  and  have  suggested  the  propriety  of  the  United  States  assum 
ing  a  guardianship  of  them  ;  and  that  this  should  not  be  done,  at  the  ex 
pense  of  their  just  rights.  Admitting  the  legality  of  their  claims  to  the 
soil,  it  follows  that  in  the  same  they  possess  property,  fully  adequate  to 
all  the  demands  of  the  process  of  their  reformation.  This  property  can 
be  applied  to  the  relief  of  the  Indians  without  taking  one  dollar  from  our 
treasury.  Where  then  could  be  the  loss  to  us  1  It  would  be  loss,  only 
in  anticipation  ;  one  source  of  revenue  to  the  United  States  would  be 
lessened;  namely,  that  from  the  sale  of  public  lands.  But  the  chang 
ing  of  the  direction  of  this  stream  would  be  for  the  righteous  purpose  of 
allowing  it  to  water  the  fields  to  which  it  does  rightfully  belong ;  and  in 
so  doing,  we  should  no  more  than  discharge  a  just  debt,  the  payment  of 
which  we  cannot  withhold  without  violence  to  the  better  feelings  of  the 
human  heart. 

Admitting  that  the  state  of  society  and  the  policy  of  our  Government 
imperiously  require  us  hereafter  to  possess  ourselves  of  large  portions 
of  Indian  territory,  yet  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  requires  us  to  deny 
to  the  Indians  an  equivalent.  In  the  construction  of  public  works,  you 
take  the  land  of  the  minor,  because  your  convenience  requires  it;  but 
you  secure  to  him  an  ample  remuneration.  He  is  incapable  of  stipulat 
ing  for  the  terms  of  this  remuneration ;  therefore  you  do  it  for  him. 
The  Indians  are,  also,  incapable  of  stipulating  for  profitable  terms. 
It  would  become  us  to  do  this  for  them,  and  that  too,  by  fixed  and  right 
eous  rules. 

At  the  treaty  of  Chicago,  signed  Aug.  29,  1821,  held  with  the  Put- 
tawatomie,  and  parts  of  the  Chippewa  and  Ottawa  tribes  of  Indians, 
there  were  ceded  to  the  United  States,  within  the  limits  of  Michigan 
Territory,  4,472,550  acres  of  land,  and  within  the  State  of  Indiana, 
460,800  acres,  making  an  aggregate  of  4,933,350  acres. 

Twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  acre,  which  amounts  to  the  sum  of 
$616,668:75,  we  suppose  to  be  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  expenses  of  the 
treaty  at  which  the  purchase  was  made,  and  the  expenses  of  surveying 
and  preparing  the  land  for  market.  The  minimum  price  of  Govern 
ment  land  is  $1,25  per  acre.  At  auction  it  often  s^lls  much  higher. 
But  on  account  of  expenses  of  purchase,  and  of  sales,  and  on  account 
of  unsaleable  lands,  our  calculations  reduce  the  real  value,  and  say  it 
is  worth,  clear  of  all  expense  or  purchase,  &c.  sixty-two  and  a  half 
cents  per  acre.*  The  purchase  under  consideration  at  this  rate,  is 

*  If  it  should  occur  to  any  one  that  our  allowance  for  unsaleable  lands  is  too 
small,  I  would  remind  him  that  we  are  not  to  calculate  their  amount  from  what  is 
unsold.  It  is  well  known  that  millions  of  acres  of  valuable  lands  are  now  in  mar- 


20 

worth  to  the  United  States,  really,  $3,083,343:75.  We  therefore  ac 
quire,  in  this  transaction,  free  of  all  costs,  the  very  respectable  sum 
mentioned  above,  which  sum  we  can  apply  to  the  benefit  of  the  Indians 
without  taking  a  single  sixpence  from  the  property  of  any  citizen  of 
the  United  States.  The  people  to  be  benefitted  by  this  sum  cannot  ex 
ceed  in  number  seven  thousand  souls. 

In  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Missi- 
sippi,  and  Missouri,  and  in  the  territories  of  Arkansas  and  Michigan, 
the  United  States  have  acquired  lands  from  the  Indians  to  the  amount 
of  214,219,865  acres.  Let  us  moderate  our  calculations,  and  say  the 
land  is  worth  to  us,  clear  of  all  expense,  50  cents  per  acre,  we  then 
have  acquired  in  it  a  real  property  of  $107,109,932:50.  Let  it  be  ob 
served,  this  sum  has  been  acquired  by  purchases  made  within  only  nine 
States  and  Territories,  out  of  twenty-six.  And  further,  there  yet  re 
mains  in  the  States  and  Territories  named,  a  considerable  amount  of 
land  to  which  the  Indian  title  has  not  been  extinguished. 

The  above  sum  would  have  been  worthy  of  our  government  in  the 
work  of  Indian  reform,  and  commensurate  to  all  the  exigencies  of  such 
an  enterprise.  Admitting  that  it  is  greater  than  would  have  been  neces 
sary,  still  it  could  all  have  been  applied  without  loss  to  us ;  and  in  pro 
portion  as  wre  diminish  the  amount  to  that  which  would  have  been  ac 
tually  required,  we  find  a  positive  profit  to  ourselves. 

While  on  this  point,  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  indulge  a  thought  occa 
sionally  on  the  circumstance,  that  millions  of  acres  of  Indian  lands 
have  come  into  our  possession  without  treaty,  or  the  formalities  of  pur 
chase  or  pay ;  and  on  the  small  amount,  in  the  aggregate,  which  pur 
chased  the  residue,  in  all  the  states  not  named  above. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  any  plan  adopted  now,  ought  to  operate 
retrospectively.  1  have  made  the  foregoing  calculations,  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  what  might  have  been  done,  and  what  may  be  done 
in  future,  with  entire  convenience  to  us.  There  are  yet  millions,  many 
millions  of  acres  of  valuable  territory,  which  have  not  been  ceded  to  the 
United  States.  It  is  their  application  only,  to  the  benefit  of  the  Indians, 
that  we  ask.  I  declare  myself  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  reasonable 
objection  any  man  could  make  to  this  measure. 

Again,  should  the  above  be  considered  a  sacrifice  on  our  part,  should 
it  be  considered  too  great  a  change  in  our  policy  in  relation  to  the  In 
dians,  then,  we  would  propose  that  they  be  allowed  the  use  of  those 
funds  for  a  given  time ;  say  thirty  years,  and  let  the  interest  only  of  the 
stock  be  employed  for  their  benefit.  This  would  be,  in  itself,  only  allowing 
them  the  use  of  their  lands  for  that  period,  with  the  express  understand 
ing  that,  at  the  expiration  of  the  term,  all  their  claims  would  be  relin 
quished  to  the  United  States  for  ever.  By  the  act  which  creates  these 

ket,  unsold  for  no  other  reason  than  because  the  United  States  acquire  lands  of  the 
Indians  so  frequently,  and  to  such  a  vast  extent,  that  great  latitude  is  afforded  to 
purchasers  to  stretch  over  the  country  in  the  selection  of  favourite  spots,  leaving 
behind  them  much  valuable  land,  which,  were  it  not  for  the  reasons  just  now 
assigned,  would  soon  yield  to  the  United  States  the  value  of  one  dollar  and  twenty- 
five  cents  per  acre. 

Again,  let  Government  put  all  their  unsold  lands  which  are  now  in  market,  at 
seventy-five  cents,  and  at  fifty  cents  per  acre,  according  to  their  comparative  value, 
and  your  markets  will  presently  be  crowded  with  purchasers,  and  unsold  lands  will 
soon  become  scarce. 


funds,  we  acquire  the  Indian  territory ;  from  which  they  retire,  leaving 
us  the  entire  occupancy  of  the  same.  This,  as  I  trust  we  shall  learn 
in  the  sequel,  would  be  vastly  better  for  the  Indians,  than  the  actual 
occupancy  of  those  lands  for  the  same  length  of  time.  No  objection, 
therefore,  arises  to  our  proposal  from  the  consideration  of  their  interests. 
And  it  will  at  first  sight  be  abundantly  obvious  that  the  measure  would 
be  greatly  more  advantageous  to  the  United  States  than  to  allow  them 
to  reside  on  those  lands  for  that  period. 

Were  we  to  allow  them  the  interest  only  of  the  funds  created  by  the 
sale  of  their  lands,  after  paying  all  expenses  thereon,  occasioned  by 
treaty,  survey,  &c.  the  proceeds  of  the  treaty  made  at  Chicago,  in  1821, 
that  is  to  say,  the  interest  on  $3,083,343:75,  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum, 
would  be  $185,000:62^.  This  annuity,  as  before  stated,  would  be  for 
the  benefit  of  about  seven  thousand  souls. 

By  the  same  calculation,  the  annual  interest  on  the  sum  we  found 
just  now,  created  by  the  acquisition  of  Indian  lands  in  nine  States  and 
Territories,  to  wit,  the  sum  of  $107,109,932:50,  would  be  $6,426,595:95. 
Were  we  expending  at  this  time  the  annual  sum  last  mentioned,  on 
only  a  portion  of  our  Indians,  we  should  be  doing  no  more  than  paying 
them  the  interest  of  a  debt  which  we  justly  owe,  of  the  principal  of 
which,  our  proposal  does  not  solicit  the  payment. 

At  the  time  this  manual  was  first  published  in  1827,  a  portion  of  the 
Puttawatomie  tribe,  in  number  about  3,500  owned,  as  was  supposed,  in 
Indiana  and  Michigan  5,000,000  of  acres.  This,  at  sixty-two  and  a 
half  cents  an  acre,  is  worth  $3,125,000;  the  interest  on  which,  at  six 
per  cent,  per  annum  would  be  .$  187,500. 

Let  us  take  another  view  of  this  subject.  The  Chippewas  inhabit 
along  the  line  between  the  United  States  and  Canada ;  the  greater  por 
tion  of  them  on  the  Canada  side.  Let  us  leave  them,  and  perhaps  some 
others,  entirely  out  of  our  present  calculations ;  and  on  this  account 
leave  out  so  much  of  our  north-western  territory,  as  lies  north  of  the 
forty-sixth  degree  of  northern  latitude.  We  will  then  suppose,  upon  a 
safe  calculation,  that  we  still  have  remaining  in  the  north-western  terri 
tory,  that  is,  south  of  the  forty-sixth  degree  of  latitude,  ana1  north  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  and  west  of  lake  Michigan,  and  east  of  the  Mississip 
pi  river,  45,000,000  of  acres.  Suppose  there  is  yet,  as  was  the  case  in 
1827,  within  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  the  Territory  of 
Michigan,  10,000,000  of  acres  of  Indian  land,  not  ceded  to  the  United 
States,  which,  added  to  the  45,000,000  mentioned  above,  make 
55,000,000  of  acres.  This,  at  the  rate  of  sixty-two  and  a  half  cents 
an  acre,  would  be  worth  to  us,  free  of  all  cost,  $34,375,000.  The  inter 
est  on  which,  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  would  be  $2,062,500.  The 
tribes  to  be  benefitted  by  the  above  sum  are  Ottawa,  Puttawatomie, 
Winebago,  Menominee,  Sauk,  and  Fox. 

The  plan  under  consideration  will  not  suffer  at  all  by  the  supposition 
that  all  these  lands  could  not,  at  once,  be  turned  into  profitable  stock, 
for  neither  would  the  process  of  Indian  reform  require  it.  The  lands 
of  course  would  be  obtained  from  the  natives  from  time  to  time,  as 
would  best  suit  the  convenience  of  our  Government.  There  would 
also  be  a  space  of  time  in  each  case,  between  the  ceding  of  it  to  the 
United  States,  and  the  actual  application  of  nett  profits  on  the  same 
to  the  use  of  the  Indians.  But  each  case  provides  for  itself.  The  be 
nefit  would  commence  and  increase  with  the  beginning  and  growth  of 


22 

the  nett  profits  thereon.  And  if,  as  our  plan  proposes,  the  profits  to  the 
Indians  shall  be  limited  to  a  certain  number  of  years,  that  period  would 
be  fixed  according  to  the  commencement  of  the  emolument,  and  in  pro 
portion  to  the  sum  that  would  be  of  necessity  advanced  for  the  purpose 
of  so  disposing  of  the  Indians,  as  to  enable  the  United  States  to  settle 
the  land  without  inconvenience  to  the  former.  Still  the  amount  of 
profit  to  the  Indians,  for  the  property  under  consideration,  would  ulti 
mately  be  the  same.  Without  doubt,  the  revenue  would  commence, 
and  would  increase  on  a  scale  sufficiently  large  to  meet  the  necessities 
of  any  civilizing  operations  that  our  Government  might  choose  to  adopt. 

The  same  calculation^  will  apply,  with  similar  advantage,  less  or 
more,  to  the  Miamies,  and  to  all  others  on  small  reservations  in  Ohio, 
New-York,  and  New-England,  and  others  on  our  borders,  and  who 
might  require  our  attention,  west  of  the  Mississippi  river. 

Take  particular  notice — the  sum  just  stated,  would  be  provided  at 
no  higher  expense  to  us  than  what  would  be  tantamount  to  allowing 
the  Indians  to  remain  on  their  lands  the  aforementioned  term  of  thirty 
years,  and  then  relinquishing  them  to  us  -for  ever,  without  any  further 
consideration.  The  question,  therefore,  turns  upon  this  single  hinge — 
Can  we  afford  the  Indians  the  use  of  those  lands  for  thirty  years,  upon 
the  consideration  that  they  shall  ever  afterwards  be  ours,  admitting  that 
they  may  enjoy  such  use,  or  its  equivalent,  without  remaining  in  the  way 
of  our  settlements,  or  of  our  business  1  This  being  admitted,  we  take 
possession  of  the  lands  immediately,  and  instead  of  allowing  them  a 
residence  thereon,  apply  to  their  use,  for  the  same  term  of  time,  the 
interest  of  a  supposed  real  stock  which  we  would  have  in  the  said 
lands. 

What  reasonable  objection  could  we  raise,  to  allowing  the  Indians  to 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  their  lands  a  few  years  longer,  when  we  should, 
in  the  mean  time,  derive  all  the  advantages,  of  settling  on  those  lands  ? 

If  our  Government  should  choose  positively  to  invest  the  stockjmder 
consideration,  then  there  would  be  at  the  end  of  these  years,  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  not  only  the  country  itself,  but  also  a  disposable 
fund  of  $34,375,000.  This,  we  must  recollect,  is  only  one  verse  in  the 
chapter.  The  calculations  which  have  led  us  to  this  fund,  include  only 
the  Indians  south  of  the  46th  degree  of  northern  latitude,  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  skirting  for  its  southern  limits  the  northern  parts  of 
Illinois  and  Indiana,  and  extending  a  little  distance  into  Michigan  Ter 
ritory,  east  of  Lake  Michigan.  All  others,  with  their  millions  of  terri 
tory,  have  been  left  out  of  our  calculations. 

Further,  if  it  be  necessary  to  make  the  matter  still  more  favourable 
on  our  part,  let  us  suppose  that  in  the  operations  of  our  present  policy, 
some  of  those  northern  tribes  will  occupy  their  present  places  fifteen 
years,  before  the  United  States  will  have  extinguished  the  whole  of  their 
claims,  and  the  few  who  will  be  alive,  shall  have  fled  to  some  more  remote 
district,  according  to  the  ordinary  fate  of  the  Indians ;  still,  during  the 
whole  of  this  term  of  time,  they  are  in  our  way,  to  the  great  annoyance 
of  the  settling  of  the  country.  But,  let  us  suppose  that  the  plan  under 
consideration  would  remove  them  in  five  years  ;  this  would  secure  to  us 
the  earlier  occupancy  of  ten  years,  of  the  country  in  question.  This 
would  be  placing  in  our  hands,  the  stock  contemplated,  ten  years  sooner 
than  we  should  otherwise  realize  it,  which  would  be  equal  to  the  pay 
ment  of  ten  years'  interest  to  the  Indians  for  the  same  term  which  they 


23 

would  otherwise  have  occupied  their  lands.  Or,  in  other  words,  it  would 
be  equal  to  a  deduction  of  ten  years,  from  the  term  of  the  thirty  years, 
which  we  have  supposed  the  interest  would  be  payable  to  them. 

The  advantages  which  this  view  of  our  subject  discloses,  must  go  far 
in  the  recommendation  of  our  plan.  I  trust  we  shall  be  able  to  make 
it  appear,  that  our  plan  is  of  a  Character  to  justify  the  above  conclusions ; 
not  in  exact  proportion  of  time,  as  mentioned  above,  nevertheless,  in  a 
proportion  more  or  less  favourable,  of  which,  the  above  calculation  will 
be  found  illustrative. 

It  is  but  justice  to  our  scheme  to  state,  which  I  do  with  a  good  degree 
of  confidence,  that  by  it  a  current  annual  expenditure  of  the  United 
States,  on  about  the  section  of  country  which  we  have  last  had  under 
consideration,  without  benefit  to  the  Indians,  of  at  least  $65,200,  will  be 
turned  into  the  account  of  positive  advantage  to  the  natives,  or  not  be 
expended  at  all.  And  also,  that  another  item  of  current  annual  expen 
diture  of  $66,531,  may  be  diminished  more  than  one  half. 

The  first  item  alluded  to,  of  $65,200,  is  the  aggregate  of  annuities 
paid  to  those  Indians  within  the  district  under  consideration.  There 
has  been  a  lamentable  waste  of  public  treasure  upon  Indiati  treaties  ;* 
and  I  as  confidently  assert,  that  there  is  a  lamentable  waste  of  public 
moneys  in  Indian  annuities.  Our  Government  is  not  in  the  habit  of 
taking  their  lands  for  nothing.  But  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether 
the  thousands  of  dollars  annually  paid  to  the  Indians,  as  matters  are, 
render  them  any  service.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  all  things  consider 
ed,  their  annuities  are  worse  than  useless.  No  person  could  have  been 
more  favourably  situated  for  arriving  at  a  just  conclusion  on  this  point 
than  myself.  Having  been  actually  among  them  for  ten  years,  I  am 
well  acquainted  with  their  circumstances  both  before  and  after  receiving 
annuities ;  and  declare  that  I  have  found  no  reason  for  inclining  to  a 
different  opinion  from  that  just  now  expressed.  I  am  inclined  to  be 
lieve  that  there  are  few,  if  any,  Indian  Agents,  who  are  of  a  different 
opinion. 

Indians  usually  waste  much  of  their  annuities  on  ardent  spirits.  The 
occasion  of  receiving  their  pay  collects  them  together  into  large  bodies,, 
and  exposes  them  to  greater  excesses.  In  1821,  eight  murders  among 
themselves  occurred  at  arid  near  to  Fort  Wayne,  before  they  left  the 
neighbourhood  where  their  moneys  had  been  paid  to  them.  In  the  same 
year,  1821,  a  few  days  after  the  close  of  the  treaty  of  Chicago,  when 
of  course  they  had  the  means  of  procuring  whiskey,  -seven  persons,  of 
both  sexes,  were  murdered  among  themselves,  on  the  same  ground,  in 
the  course  of  twenty-four  hours.  If  our  conclusion,  that  the  annuities 
paid  to  the  Indians,  do  them  an  injury  rather  than  a  service,  it  becomes 
exceedingly  desirable  to  put  a  stop  to  this'  expenditure ;  or  rather  to 
direct  its  application  to  the  positive  benefit  of  the  natives,  according  to 
the  design  of  our  Government.  That  these  annuities  may  be  thus  ap 
plied,  I  believe,  will  be  admitted  by  all  who  dispassionately  consider  the 
subject. 

Some  pledges  lately  given,  that  it  would  appear  that  our  plan  provides 
for  the  earlier  removal  of  the  Indians  which  are  found  in  our  way,  than 

*  This  remark  is  not  intended  to  criminate  the  officers  of  our  Government,  who 
negociate  treaties,  and  perform  other  similar  services.  Those  men  proceed  ac 
cording  to  their  instructions.  The  error  is  in  the  policy  of  the  Government. 


24 

can  be  hoped  for  from  existing  measures,  and  also  provides  for  th# 
abridgement  of  an  annual  expenditure  which  at  this  time  amounts  to 
about  $66,531,  I  hope  to  redeem  a  few  pages  hence. 

Should  it  be  asked,  Why  it  is  desirable  to  create  a  larger  fund  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Indians,  if  what  we  have  already  bestowed  upon  them 
has  been  wasted,  and  worse  than  wasted  ?  I  answer,  an  increase  of  funds,, 
to  be  applied  in  a  similar  way,  is  not  desirable.  That  is,  to  put  cash 
into  their  hands,  or  to  put  blankets  on  their  backs.  In  the  two  cases 
the  result  is  about  the  same.  If  you  give  them  clothing,  or  the  means 
necessary  for  hunting,  there  are  persons  ready  to  buy  the  same  for  whis 
key  and  trifles,  and  to  shop  up  the  very  same  articles  to  sell  to  the  In 
dians  afterwards,  for  peltries  and  fur. 

There  are  two  items  of  annual  expenditure  of  Government  on  the 
Indians  which  have  not  been  wasted  or  lost.  The  first  is,  the  annual 
appropriation  of  $10,000,  specially  for  purposes  of  Indian  reform. — 
This  sum  has  been  placed  by  Congress  at  the  disposal  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  The  latter  has  determined  to  apply  it,  not  in 
hiring  men  to  go  among  the  Indians  to  civilize  them,  because  in  many 
instances  he  would  unwittingly  appoint  unsuitable  persons  ;  but  he  has 
determined  to  apply  it  in  conjunction  with  benevolent  Associations,  who 
have  embarked  with  zeal  and  Christian  prudence  in  the  work  of  civiliz 
ing  and  evangelizing  the  Indians.  A  more  judicious  regulation,  both  as 
it  regards  Congress  and  the  President,  could  not  be  made.  In  this  ar 
rangement,  we  have  the  best  security  for  the  just  and  useful  application  of 
these  funds,  of  which  the  imperfection  of  man  admits.  Take  as  an  ex 
planation  of  the  whole*,  the  details  of  the  case  as  it  exists  within  the 
superintendency  of  Indian  agency,  at  Detroit,  Michigan  Territory. 

Schools  are  established  in  the  Indian  country,  actually  among  them* 
At  these  establishments  youths  are  taught  letters,  and  labour,  both  do 
mestic,  agricultural,  and  mechanical ;  and,  in  a  word,  whatever  is  ne 
cessary  for  the  improvement  of  Indian  condition.  The  men,  (and  the 
women  too)  who  are  employed  to  manage  these  establishments,  are  re 
gular  members  of  Christian  churches,  and  are  accountable  to  the  same 
for  their  conduct.  There  are,  also,  special  agents  of  religious  benevolent 
Associations,  formed  in  various  parts  of  the"  United  States,  for  the  ex 
press  object  of  promoting  purposes  of  benevolence.  These  Associa 
tions  are  composed  of  men  of  the  first  standing  in  society.  They  are 
indeed  the  select  men  of  the  different  religious  denominations.  To  these 
Societies  and  Associations,  the  missionaries  are  accountable.  The  ser 
vices  of  the  missionaries  are  all  gratuitous.  This  circumstance  has  a 
powerful  tendency  to  exclude  all  temptation  to  abuse  their  trust.  To 
the  Societies  under  whose  patronage  they  generally  labour,  they  account 
annually,  semi-annually,  or  quarterly,  as  the  case  requires.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  Society  orders  as  often  as  it  deems  it  expedient,  a  special  and 
competent  Agent  to  visit  the  establishments,  and  to  report  the  condition 
of  the  mission. 

The  missionaries  are  also  required  to  report  annually  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  In  addition  to  all  this,  an  Agent  is  appointed 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  to  visit  annually,  the  several  es 
tablishments,  and  to  report.  All  these  reports  to  the  Societies,  and  to 
the  Government,  are  either  published  to  the  world,  or  are  left  open  for 
examination  at  any  time.  Thus  guarded,  we  may  safely  calculate  that 
these  funds  will  be  applied  to  the  very  best  advantage.  And  thus  far 


25 

we  are  very  bold  in  the  assertion,  in  every  instance  of  the  application  of 
any  portion  of  them,  blessings  to  the  poor  savages  have  sprung  up,  and 
have  caused  the  wilderness  to  resound  with  songs  of  joy. 

The  second  item  of"  public  expenditure  on  the  natives,  which  is  pro 
fitably  employed  for  them,  is  the  amount  arising  from  special  stipulations 
in  treaties  for  education  purposes  ;  stipulations,  in  the  spirit  of  the  case, 
perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  we  have  advanced.  These 
funds,  like  the  direct  appropriations  of  Congress,  are  placed  at  the  dis 
posal  of  the  President,  who  wisely  directs  their  application  through  the 
sime  channel  as  the  former. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  only  feasible  Plan  for  reforming  the  Indians,  is  that  of  colonizing 

them. 

HAVING  arrived  at  a  certainty  of  the  fact  that  we  have  at  our  disposal 
more  than  ample  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  all  the  purposes  of 
Indian  reform  ;  means,  too,  which  can  be  applied  without  disadvantage 
to  us,  and  probably,  to  our  own  positive  profit  ;  it  now  becomes  us  to  in 
quire,  What  plan  will  most  likely  be  successful  in  accomplishing  the  re 
formation  of  the  Indians  ? 

Without  ceremony,  I  offer  for  consideration  the  plan  recommended 
to  the  wisdom  of  Congress  by  Mr.  Monroe,  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  highly  commended  in  a  Report  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  then  Se 
cretary  of  War,  on  which  the  first  resolution  was  moved  in  that  respect 
able  body  by  Mr.  Conway,  of  Arkansas,  which  was  afterwards  happily 
amended  by  Mr.  Barbour,  Secretary  of  War,  and  which  has  since  been 
called  up  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  by  gentlemen  whose  remem 
brance  will  be  grateful  to  the  enlightened  Indian,  and  to  the  friends  of 
Indian  reform,  while  history  lives  to  tell  of  generous  deeds.* 

This  plan  proposes  the  concentration  of  all  the  tribes  in  some  suitable 
portion  of  country,  under  such  guardianship  of  our  Government  as  shall 
be  found  conducive  to  their  permanent  improvement  ;  together  with  the 
guaranty,  on  the  faith  of  the  United  States,  of  said  'country  to  them  and 
to  their  posterity  for  ever. 

We  have  already  discovered  to  a  certainty,  that  some  measures  more 
efficient  than  those  heretofore  employed,  must  be  adopted,  or  the  Indians 
must  perish.  Increase  the  appropriations  for  their  reform,  and  the  ope 
rative  means  of  improvement  will  take  a  wider  range  ;  but  leave  the 
Indians  situated  as  they  have  been,  and  as  they  now  are,  and  they  will, 
"  nevertheless,  pine  away  and  die.  We  may  theorize  by  our  firesides, 
but  facts  will  speak  for  them  selves.  The  policy  which  has  been  pursued 
with  the  Aborigines  for  about  200  years,  is  to  pen  them  up  on  small 
reservations,  or  to  encourage  them  to  retire  farther  back  into  the  forests. 
Now  if  ever  one  tribe  of  Indians  has  flourished  under  the  circumstance  of 
either  of  these  situations,  we  will  hope  that  the  like  may  happen  again. 
But  if  such  an  event  has  never  occurred,  we  may  confidently  assure  our 
selves  that  it  never  will. 

*  Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  this  Report,  we  have  been  inform 
ed  that  Col.  Thomas  Benton,  of  Missouri,  moved  the  consideration  of  this  subject 
in  Congress,  prior  to  the  resolution  submitted  by  Mr.  Conway. 

4 


26 

Objections  to  our  long  continued  policy  are  not  merely  of  a  negative 
character,  such  as  to  say,  "  those  tribes  do  not  thrive  ;"  but,  our  objec 
tions  say  positively,  that  the  policy  is  ruinous,  and  that  it  has  never,  in  a 
single  instance,  failed,  and  never,  in  a  single  instance,  will  fail,  to  be 
prolific  in  fatal  consequences  to  the  Indians.  Several  tribes  have  be 
come  totally  extinct,  and  of  some,  scarcely  the  remembrance  exists. — 
Others,  once  numerous  and  powerful,  are  now  reduced  to  a  few  dozens, 
or  less,  of  poor,  miserable,  worthless  beings  ;  and  the  condition  of  all 
such  is  becoming  more  and  more  pitiable  every  year.  The  degrees  of 
declension  and  misery  are  in  a  regular  gradation  from  those  tribes  which 
have  a  dying  remnant,  up  to  those  who  are  but  just  beginning  to  melt 
down  by  the  approach  of  the  whites.  We  could  easily  point  to  parti 
cular  instances  of  the  rapidity  of  decline,  and  of  its  alarming  extent ;  but 
this  would  be  consuming  time  in  proof  of  what  is  clear  to  demonstra 
tion  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Indians. 

We  are  now  admonished,  in  terms  clear  and  distinct,  the  language 
of  well-known  facts,  what  we  ought  not  to  do.  The  question,  therefore, 
presents  itself  singly,  What  ought  we  to  do  ?  Let  the  history  of  the  Che- 
rokees  and  their  neighbours,  teach  us. 

These  people  have  been  allowed  to  occupy  a  situation  similar  to  that 
contemplated  in  the  colonizing  plan,  under  consideration.  So  far  as 
the  circumstances  of  their  situation  have  been  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  proposed  plan,  so  far  those  tribes  have  thriven.  By  all  the 
circumstances  in  which  there  has  been  a  departure  from  the  spirit  of  our 
plan,  has  their  improvement  been  retarded. 

These  tribes  have  been  permitted  to  live  where,  in  some  degree,  they 
could  cherish  a  spirit  of  national  ambition.  They  have  felt  themselves 
somewhat  at  home.  They  owned  a  tract  of  country,  sufficiently  large, 
to  allow  them  to  feel  their  importance  as  a  people.  Notwithstanding 
the  United  States  had  not  acknowledged  their  claims  to  soil  to  be  legal, 
like  those  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  yet  such  were  their  cir 
cumstances,  that  they  felt  less  apprehension  of  being 'removed,  than 
others  of  whom  we  have  spoken.  They  were  neither  running  before  the 
advance  of  white  population,  nor  pent  up  on  a  little  spot  by  a  people 
with  whom  they  could  not  associate  upon  an  equality.  They  were  so 
situated  as  to  feel  the  force  of  incentives  to  improvement.  They  could 
witness  the  prosperity  of  the  whites,  and  hope,  that,  by  imitating  their 
example,  they  might  arrive  at  similar  excellence.  Not  by  mingling  with 
the  whites — it  was  among  themselves  alone,  that  they  could  find  the  sa 
lutary  mediocrity  of  society.  Happily  for  them,  they  had  latitude  to 
think,  to  hope,  and  to  act.  Such  a  situation,  though  materially  better, 
being  far  less  affected  by  the  prejudices,  and  by  all  the  evils  resulting 
from  the  contiguity  of  the  whites,  does  our  colonizing  scheme  offer 
"  to  those  who  are  ready  to  perish." 

The  improved  condition  of  these  people  not  only  demonstrates  the 
practicability  of  Indian  reform,  but  also  declares,  as  on  housetops,  that 
we  have  always  been  in  error  with  respect  to  the  inveteracy  of  Indian 
habits.  We  now  know  that  if  Indians  are  favourably  situated  for  improve 
ment,  they  will  improve  themselves.  The  work  of  civilization  among 
the  Cherokees  appears  to  have  been  commenced  by  themselves ;  and,  by 
themselves,  without  assistance  from  the  whites,  carried  forward  to  a  very 
hopeful  and  happy  extent.  With  the  exception  of  a  well-meant,  but 
limited  effort  of  the  United  Brethren,  who  were  very  worthy  men,  it  was 


27 

not  until  the  year  1803  that  any  thing  like  efficient  missionary  labours 
were  commenced  among  them.  Even  these  labours  were  on  a  limited 
scale,  and  soon  discontinued.  In  the  year  1817  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  commenced  their  successful 
career  in  that  country.  And  it  was  still  later  that  the  Baptist  Board  of 
Missions  formed  an  establishment  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  nation.  At 
this  time  they  were  comparatively  a  civilized  people. 

It  appears  that  these  people  had  made  great  improvement  in  the  arts 
of  civilized  life,  many  years  prior  to  1803.  "  In  1806,  they  had  as 
sumed,  to  a  greater  extent,  not  only  the  habits,  but  even  the  form  of 
government  of  a  civilized  nation.  At  a  kind  of  national  meeting,  they 
formed  a  constitution,  chose  a  legislative  body,  and  passed  a  number  of 
laws,  among  which,  was  one  act  imposing  taxes  for  public  purposes." 
In  1810,  it  is  said  their  number  was  12,395.  There  were  in  the  nation 
583  negro  slaves,  19,500  cattle,  6,100  horses,  19,600  hogs,  and  1,037 
sheep.  They  had  in  actual  operation  13  grist  mills,  3  saw  mills,  3 
salt-petre  works,  and  one  powder  mill.  They  had  30  wagons,  between 
480  and  500  ploughs,  1600  spinning  wheels,  467  looms,  and  49  silver 
smiths.  Circulating  specie  was  supposed  to  be  as  plenty  among  them, 
as  was  common  among  the  white  people  of  the  neighbouring  countries. 
On  their  roads  they  had  many  public  houses,  and  on  their  rivers  conve 
nient  ferries.  Many  of  them  were  learning  different  trades  according 
to  their  particular  inclinations.* 

As  a  further  illustration  of  their  improved  state,  take  the  following 
extract  from  their  national  Committee  and  Council,  published  in  the 
Columbian  Star,  at  Washington,  March  11,  1826.  I  give  the  follow 
ing  resolutions  as  they  were  passed  among  themselves,  and  written  down 
with  their  own  hands. 

"  Resolved  by  the  national  Committee  and  Council,  that  an  agent  or 
agents  shall  be  appointed  to  solicit  and  receive  donations  in  money,  from 
individuals  or  societies  through  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  and  supporting  a  national  Academy,  and  for  procuring  two 
sets  of  types,  and  a  press  for  a  printing  office,  to  be  established  at  New- 
town,  in  the  Cherokee  nation. 

"  Be  it  further  resolved,  that  the  treasurer  be,  and  he  is,  hereby  author 
ized  to  apply  $1500,  out  of  the  public  funds  towards  the  objects  herein 
specified."  This  press  is  now  in  operation,  and  issues  a  weekly  news 
paper. 

To  the  foregoing  evidences  of  the  improved  and  flourishing  condition 
of  the  Cherokees,!  add  extracts  from  the  letter  of  David  Brown,  a  Chero 
kee,  written  by  himself  at  Willstown,  (Cherokee  nation,)  Sept.  2,  1825, 
addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Family  Visitor,  at  Richmond,  Virginia. 

"  These  plains  [in  the  Cherokee  country]  furnish  immense  pasturage, 
and  numberless  herds  of  cattle  are  dispersed  over  them.  Horses  are 
plenty,  and  are  used  for  servile  purposes.  Numerous  flocks  of  sheep, 
goats,  and  swine,  cover  the  valleys  and  hills.  On  the  Tennessee,  Usta- 
nala,  and  Canasagi  rivers,  Cherokee  commerce  floats.  In  the  plains 
and  valleys  the  soil  is  generally  rich,  producing  Indian  corn,  cotton,  to 
bacco,  wheat,  oats,  indigo,  sweet  and  Irish  potatoes.  The  natives  car 
ry  on  a  considerable  trade  with  the  adjoining  States,  and  some  of  them 
export  cotton  in  boats  down  the  Tennessee  to  the  Mississippi,  and  down 

*  See  Brown's  Hist,  of  Missions,  1st  American  Edition,  Vol.  2,  p.  505. 


28 

that  river  to  New-Orleans.  Apple  and  peach  orchards  are  quite  com* 
mon,  and  gardens  are  cultivated,  and  much  attention  paid  to  them. — 
Butter  and  cheese  are  seen  on  Cherokee  tables.  There  are  many  pub 
lic  roads  in  the  nation,  and  houses  of  entertainment  kept  by  natives. — • 
Numerous  flourishing  villages  are  seen  in  every  section  of  the  country. 
Cotton  and  woollen  cloths  are  manufactured  here.  Blankets  of  various 
dimensions  manufactured  by  Cherokee  hands  are  very  common.  'Al 
most  every  family  in  the  nation  grows  cotton  for  its  own  consumption. 
Industry,  and  commercial  enterprise,  are  extending  themselves  in  every 
part.  Nearly  all  the  merchants  in  the  nation  are  native  Cherokees, 
Agricultural  pursuits,  (the  solid  foundation  of  our  national  prosperity,) 
engage  the  chief  attention  of  the  people.  Different  branches  in  mecha 
nics  are  pursued.  The  population  is  rapidly  increasing.  In  the  year 
1819,  an  estimate  was  made  of  all  the  Cherokees.  Those  on  the  west 
were  estimated  at  5,000,  and  those  on  the  east  of  Mississippi  at  10,000 
souls.  The  census  of  this  division  of  the  Cherokees  has  again  been 
taken  within  the  current  year,  [1825]  and  the  returns  are  thus  made: — 
Native  citizens,  13,563 — white  men  married  in  the  nation,  147 — white 
women,  do.  73 — African  slaves,  1,277.  If  this  summary  of  Cherokee 
population  from  the  census  is  correct,  to  say  nothing  of  those  of  foreign 
extract,  we  find  that  in  six  years,  the  increase  has  been  3,563  souls. — 
National  pride,  patriotism,  and  a  spirit  of  independence,  mark  the  Che 
rokee  character.  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Moravians, 
are  the  most  numerous  [religious]  sects  [in  the  nation.]  Some  of  the 
most  influential  characters  are  members  of  the  church,  and  live  consist 
ently  with  their  professions.  Schools  are  increasing  every  year  ;  learn 
ing  is  encouraged  and  rewarded.  The  female  character  is  elevated  and 
duly  respected.  Indolence  is  discountenanced.  We  are  out  of  debt, 
and  our  public  revenue  is  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Our  system  of 
government,  founded  on  republican  principles,  by  which  justice  is  equal 
ly  distributed,  secures  the  respect  of  the  people.  Newtown  is  the  seat 
of  government.  The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  a  national  Commit 
tee  and  Council.  Members  of  both  branches  are  chosen  by  and  from 
the  people,  for  a  limited  period.  In  Newtown  a  printing  press  is  soon  to 
be  established  ;  also,  a  national  library  and  a  museum." 

In  view  of  the  preceding  facts,  it  is  presumed  that  none  will  hesitate 
to  admit  that  the  Cherokees  are  a  civilized  people.  They  have  among 
them  men  of  classical  education,  and  of  refined  manners.  It  is  not  pre 
tended  that  every  individual  deserves  the  appellation  of  civilized,  neither 
does  every  individual  whom  we  claim  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
merit  the  title. 

No  one  more  reveres  the  character,  or  admires  the  valuable  labours  of 
the  devoted  missionaries  who  have  aided  the  Cherokees,  than  I  do.  We 
make  honourable  mention  of  the  excellent  Moravian  missionaries,  and 
of  the  worthy  Mr.  Blackburn ;  but  both  these  efforts  have  been  too 
limited  to  have  a  sensible  bearing  upon  the  condition  of  the  nation.  I 
must  say,  it  was  neither  missionaries,  nor  our  benevolent  Government, 
that  taught  those  people  to  raise  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine  ;  to  build  houses, 
plant  orchards,  make  roads,  establish  ferries,  and  houses  of  public  en 
tertainment  ;  to  plough  and  reap,  to  spin  and  weave ;  to  establish  a 
form  of  civil  government,  regulated  by  a  code  of  wholesome  laws,  &c. 
These,  and  similar  blessings,  they  had  acquired  prior  to  any  efficient 
efforts,  either  on  the  part  of  benevolent  societies,  or  of  our  Government, 


for  the  melioration  of  their  condition.  Recently,  benevolent  societies, 
and  our  Government,  have  very  happily  contributed  to  the  progress  of 
improvement  among  these  people  ;  but  their  aid  has  been  chiefly  in  the 
matters  of  education  and  religion. 

I  have  long  wondered  that  the  fact,  that  the  Cherokees  had  climbed  to 
their  present  elevation  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  without  assistance 
from  any  other  people,  except  the  little  lately  afforded  them,  should  have 
been  so  generally  overlooked,  by  those  who  wrote  and  spake  of  them. 
The  omission  is  calculated  to  lead  us  into  error  in  the  matter  of  Indian 
reform  ;  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  it  has  already  produced 
this  effect ;  or  rather,  it  has  cherished  old  established  errors  in  relation 
to  this  subject.  So  long  as  the  public  are  impressed  with  the  belief,  that 
the  Cherokees  have  been  brought  from  the  savage  to  the  civilized  state, 
by  means  of  civilizing  agents  which  have  been  sent  among  them,  no 
thing  else  is  dreamed  of  in  relation  to  other  Indians,  than  the  employ 
ment  of  similar  means  alone.  They  seem  to  forget  that  ever  since  the 
year  1646,  the  time  that  Elliot  commenced  his  ministry  among  the  na 
tives,  we  have  been  laboiiring  for  some  of  the  more  northwardly  tribes, 
and  that  they  have,  all  the  while,  been  perishing  under  our  hands.  They 
act  as  if  wholly  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  the  Cherokees  have  acquired 
their  greatness  in  the  absence  of  the  very  remedies  which  alone  they 
seem  inclined  to  apply  to  the  relief  of  others.  Doubtless,  it  would 
have  been  fortunate  for  the  Cherokees,  if  they  had,  all  along,  been  am 
ply  supplied  with  civilizing  agents.  Their  progress  in  the  arts  of  civiliz 
ed  life  would  have  been  greatly  facilitated  by  such  auxiliaries  ;  but  they 
can  be  considered,  in  the  work  of  Indian  reform,  nothing  more  than 
auxiliaries.  Benevolent  Societies  and  Government  may  unite  in  the 
employment  of  those  auxiliaries,  and  yet  the  people  perish — place  the 
Indians  in  a  situation  favourable  to  their  improvement,  yet  leave  them  to 
encounter  the  inconvenience  of  the  absence  of  those  auxiliaries,  and  they 
will,  nevertheless,  civilize  themselves. 

Every  one  can  easily  perceive,  notwithstanding  the  above  observa 
tions,  that  in  the  present  state  of  our  country  and  of  the  Indians,  agents 
for  civilizing  and  evangelizing  them,  (for  the  work  ought  always  to  be 
thus  blended,)  are  most  desirable  to  the  accomplishment  of  our  under 
taking  ;  and  I  do  heartily  wish  that  every  one  could,  also,  as  distinctly 
perceive  what  to  me  appears  no  less  plain,  that  unless  we  colonize 
these  people,  and  place  them  in  circumstances  similar  to  those  of  the 
Cherokees,  they  will  inevitably  perish. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  I  am  not  now  theorizing  ;  I  am  stating 
plain  matters  of  fact,  which  speak  for  themselves — >the  language  of 
which  I  think  cannot  be  misunderstood  by  any  one.  The  inferences  I 
have  made  are  such  as  all  must  admit. 

With  the  improvement  of  outward  circumstances  has  been  the  actual 
increase  in  numbers  of  the  Cherokees.  This  is  as  we  might  expect  it, 
and  the  fact  serves  still  further  to  develope  the  causes  of  decrease  of 
those  with  whom  we  are  contrasting  them. 

Can  any  thing  in  nature  be  more  plain  and  convincing,  than  the 
striking  contrast  between  the  miserable  wretches  on  small  reservations, 
or  those  on  our  frontiers,  not  one  of  five  hundred  of  whom  own  either 
cattle,  sheep  or  swine,  and  not  one  of  ten  thousand  of  whom  own  either 
mill,  spinning-wheel,  or  loom,  house,  or  furniture ; — and  those  flourishing 
countries,  towns,  and  villages,  which  are  inhabited  by  the  Cherokees  ? 


30 

A  thousand  sayings  might  be  added  corroborative  of  the  preceding 
remarks,  and  in  support  of  the  conclusions  which  force  themselves  upon 
our  judgment ;  but  our  object  is  doubtless  attained.  There  is  but  one 
mode  of  reasoning  in  the  case— that  is,  so  long  as  Indians  remain  un 
der  the  circumstances  of  the  one,  they  must  dwindle ;  when  placed  in 
circumstances  similar  to  the  other,  they  will  thrive.  For  the  latter  and 
more  favourable  situation,  the  colonizing  plan,  and  that  alone,  provides. 
The  causes  of  the  opposite  processes  are  not  obscure.  The  one  is  sunk 
into  the  depths  of  degradation,  and  has  before  it  no  prospects  to  cherish 
hope,  and  a  spirit  of  improvement — while  precisely  the  reverse  is  hap 
pily  the  case  with  the  other. 

The  colonizing  plan  contemplates  the  elevation  of  the  Indian  charac 
ter.  The  degradation  stamped  on  them  by  our  first  acts  towards  them, 
is  to  be  removed  by  the  very  first  step  to  be  taken  in  the  measure.  We 
denied  the  legality  of  their  title  to  the  soil.  We  are  now  to  assign  them 
a  country,  and  to  say  to  them  in  the  language  of  truth,  never  to  be  re 
voked,  this  is  yours — yours  for  ever.  This  will  be  beginning  precisely 
where  we  ought  to  begin,  at  the  very  point  where  the  evil  began,  and 
which  has  been  the  seat  of  disease  ever  since. 

The  colonizing  plan  proposes  to  place  the  Aborigines  on  the  same 
footing  as  ourselves ;  to  place  before  them  the  same  opportunities  of  im 
provement  that  we  enjoy,  and  the  same  inducements  to  improve  those 
opportunities.  The  result,  therefore,  cannot  be  doubtful.  The  colony 
would  commence  and  improve,  much  after  the  manner  of  all  new  set 
tlements  of  whites,  which  have  been  begun  and  carried  forward,  under 
favourable  circumstances.  Improvements  in  houses,  fields,  &c.  would 
at  first  be  rude  and  ordinary,  but  every  succeeding  year  would  add  to 
their  value,  and  would  increase  the  number  of  domestic  animals,  and  the 
comforts  of  life  in  general.  Schools  would  be  established  among  them 
for  the  instruction  of  their  youth,  which,  on  account  of  the  poverty  of 
the  parents,  as  well  as  their  ignorance  of  the  advantages  of  education, 
would,  at  the  commencement,  be  charity  schools.  As  the  state  of  so- 
ciety  would  improve,  the  calls  for  charity  would  diminish,  until  children, 
when  receiving  an  education,  could  be  supported  by  their  parents.  As 
by  the  acquisition  of  property,  the  necessity  for  hunting  would  be  su 
perseded,  and  they  rendered  stationary  within  reach  of  the  schools,  the 
attendance  of  the  youths  would  be  additionally  secured.  While,  at  the 
same  time,  both  old  and  young  would  be  kept  constantly  within  the 
sphere  of  instruction,  in  morality,  literature,  and  labour.  As  circum 
stances  might  require,  schools  of  a  higher  order  would  be  established, 
and  the  number  of  natives  qualified  to  fill  every  department  in  ah  improv 
ing  community,  in  the  house,  the  field,  the  shop,  the  school,  the  state, 
and  the  church,  would  annually  increase. 

Experience  has  taught  us  that  a  fruitful  source  of  obstacles  to  Indian 
reform  exists  in  the  community  of  right  in  property,  which  prevails  to 
too  great  an  extent  among  the  Indians.  In  cases  in  which  the  comfort 
of  society  requires  the  blending  of  property  in  common,  we  often  find  it 
divided,  and  vice  versa.  The  husband  and  the  wife,  for  instance,  have 
their  separate  claims  to  their  property;  and  the  husband  would  almost 
as  soon  think  of  selling  the  horse  of  his  neighbour,  without  leave,  as  that 
of  his  wife ;  while  their  lands,  in  which  the  individuality  of  right,  ex 
cept  in  the  case  last  stated,  ought  to  be  identified,  are  held  in  common 
by  all. 


31 

i 

This  community  principle,  intrudes  itself  into  the  domestic  and  daily 
comforts  of  society,  to  the  serious  disadvantage  of  the  whole.  An  indo 
lent,  worthless  fellow,  who  will  not  grow  a  hill  of  -corn,  will,  day  after 
day,  spunge  his  more  industrious  countryman,  as  long  as  the  latter  has 
remaining  any  portion  of  the  fruit  of  his  industry.  Thus  it  often  hap 
pens  that  the  most  idle  and  improvident,  live  almost  as  plentifully  as 
the  more  industrious,  to  the  encouragement  of  the  one  in  indolence,  and 
to  the  discouragement  of  the  other  in  industry. 

In  the  colony,  a  section  of  land,  of  proper  dimension,  would  be  mark 
ed  off  to  each  individual,  as  his  own,  under  certain  regulations  securing 
his  right  against  the  intrusions  to  which  his  imperfect  judgment  would 
expose  him.  This  circumstance  could  not  fail  to  teach  him  to  identify 
property  and  individual  claims,  in  all  cases  where  the  happiness  of  so 
ciety  requires  it.  A  man  could  say,  This  land  is  my  own,  and  would 
readily  infer  his  supreme  right  to  all  its  proceeds.  The  right  of  husband 
and  wife  being  blended  in  their  land,  they  would  rationally  be  led  to 
make  a  common  interest  in  all  property,  as  well  as  in  labour,  joy,  and 
sorrow  ;  while  incentives  to  industry  and  economy  would  present  them 
selves  to  them,  and  to  their  rising  posterity,  from  a  thousand  sources. 

Laws  for  the  regulation  of  the  community,  would  be  provided  by  the 
United  States'  Government.*  These  at  first  would  be  few  and  plain,  in 
proportion  only  to  the  wants  of  the  case.  In  judicial,  as  well  as  all 
other  transactions  in  the  community,  the  natives  themselves  would  be 
employed,  so  far  as  persons  could  be  found  possessing  the  requisite 
qualifications. 

Being  concentrated,  instead  of  dispersed  over  thousands  of  miles, 
trade  and  intercourse  with  the  whites,  could  be  regulated  and  maintained 
upon  just  and  equitable  principles.  Ardent  spirits  could  be  effectually 
barred  out  of  their  country.  In  a  word,  all  those  local  evils  which  are 
at  present  frittering  away  to  nothing  these  wretched  people  would  be 
avoided,  and  the  advantages  which  are  raising  the  Cherokees  to  great 
ness,  would  be  enjoyed.  The  logical  conclusion,  therefore  is,  the  result 
would  be  favourable. 

Here  let  us  remark,  that  the  Cherokees,  to  whose  improvement  we 
appeal  with  so  much  confidence  and  pleasure,  are  acquiring  their  cha 
racter  and  comforts  amidst  a  pressure  of  opposing  obstacles.  The 
evils  resulting  from  Indian  degradation  in  the  estimation  of  the  whites, 
from  the  denial  of  their  legal  claim  to  the  soil,  &c.  reach  them  also 
in  a  lamentable  degree.  Yet  like  men  who  could  not  brook  the  mise 
ries  of  a  prison,  they  are,  with  Herculean  courage,  breaking  their 
fetters  asunder,  and  extricating  themselves  from  a  labyrinth  of  woes. 
The  colonists  under  consideration  would  be  placed  in  circumstances 
far  more  favourable  to  their  improvement,  than  have  been  those  of  the 
Cherokees;  consequently  the  improvement  of  the  former  would  be 
proportionably  more  rapid  than  has  been  that  of  the  latter.  What 
then  follows  ?  These  miserable  Indians,  gathered  from  their  wretched 
abodes,  in  which  they  had  been  perishing,  and  placed  in  "  a  good  land," 
a  land  acknowledged  to  be  their  own,  removed  from  all  the  baleful 
causes  of  their  former  calamities,  and  possessed  of  all  the  means  which 
have  given  character  and  consequence  to  their  countrymen  and  kin 
dred,  the  Cherokees,  not  the  slightest  probability  forbids  our  confident 

*  See  this  subject  considered  again  in  Chapter  vi. 


32 

expectation  that  they  will  be  lifted  up  from  the  dust,  to  the  enjoyment 
of  comforts  similar  to  those  possessed  by  ourselves,  and  that  they  will 
be  prepared  to  call  those  blessed  who  wiped  away  their  tears. 

The  plan  of  colonizing  the  Indians  promises  to  relieve  us  from  all 
the  inconveniences  arising  from  their  hostilities ;  from  unwholesome 
sentiments  which  foreigners  have  an  opportunity  of  instilling  into  their 
minds ;  from  their  residence  among  us  on  small  reservations,  where 
they  have  become  a  nuisance  to  society  ;  and  from  the  great  embarrass 
ment  which  we  feel,  when  a  few,  better  informed  than  their  fellows, 
come  out  boldly,  and  plead  their  right  to  the  soil,  and  appeal  to  the  jus 
tice,  humanity,  and  strength  of  the  United  States,  for  the  defence  of 
their  claims.  Had  the  colonizing  plan  been  adopted  fifty  years  ago,  all 
the  perplexing  difficulties  which  have  recently  occurred  with  our  southern 
Indians,  on  the  subject  of  their  claims,  would  have  been  prevented.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  our  Government  will  foresee,  in  this  proposed  design, 
the  remedy,  and  the  only  remedy,  of  evils  which  are  otherwise  likely 
to  exist,  arid  to  multiply  to  the  sad  inconvenience  of  both  the  white  and 
red  people. 

Some  objections  to  the  colonizing  plan,  can  be  more  properly  replied 
to,  when  we  shall  have  completed  our  inquiries  relative  to  the  most  eligi 
ble  situation  for  the  colony.  I  will  also  add,  that  the  suitableness  of  a 
situation  will  increase  the  weight  of  every  argument  which  we  have  ad 
vanced  in  favour  of  the  design. 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  most  eligible  Situation  for  the  Colony  is  west  of  the  Territory  of 
Arkansaw  and  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  south-west  of  Missouri 
river. 

OUR  next  inquiry  should  be,  Where  shall  we  find  the  most  eligible 
situation  for  the  colony?  Notwithstanding  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  spread  over  such  a  vast  extent  of  territory  which  was  once 
solely  the  abode  of  Indians,  yet  we  consider  it  fortunate  for  our  subject, 
that  we  possess  much  evidence  in  favour  of  the  opinion,  that  the  most 
favourable  position  for  colonizing  the  Indians,  that  our  territories  ever 
afforded,  remains  at  this  time  unoccupied  by  us.  Obviously  no  part  of 
our  sea-coast  ever  could  have  been,  nor  ever  can  be,  spared  for  such  a 
purpose.  In  point  of  commercial  advantages  the  shores  of  our  Lakes 
on  the  north,  are  second  only  to  our  sea-coasts  on  the  east  and  south, 
and  do,  therefore,  for  the  same  reasons,  forbid  them  a  home  on  their 
borders.  Place  then}  any  where  in  the  interior  of  our  country,  where 
they  will  be  surrounded  by  white  population,  and  they  will  be  still  more 
in  our  way,  than  if  placed  on  one  of  our  borders  just  mentioned.  Aside 
from  vexation  to  us,  their  residence  in  the  midst  of  white  population 
would  be  the  source  of  much  evil  to  them. 

The  North  Western  Territory  has  been  spoken  of  as  a  suitable  place 
for  the  colonizing  of  the  Indians.  But  the  whole  of  that,  with  the  ex- 


33 

ception  of  the  cold,  wet  regions,  at  the  very  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
must  soon  become  a  most  valuable  portion  of  the  Union.  It  doubtless 
embraces  a  great  deal  of  fertile  soil,  and  all  our  maps  tell  us  that  the 
region  is  uncommonly  well  provided  with  water  for  navigable  purposes. 
The  tide  of  emigration  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  is  at  this  time 
pressing  rapidly  towards  it ;  and  I  am  confident  that  it  cannot  be  stopped 
on  this  side  of  it.  Place  them  on  the  extreme  northern  limits  of  the  ter 
ritory,  and  they  would  be  immediately  adjoining  Canada.  Bring  them 
down  to  the  southern  part,  arid  they  would  soon  be  surrounded  by  the 
whites ;  as  much  so  as  if  they  had  been  located  in  the  state  of  Indiana. 
Carry  them  farther,  and  set  them  down  between  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  rivers,  and  our  objections  still  extend  to  them,  though,  we  ac 
knowledge,  with  less  force  as  it  respects  the  valuableness  of  country, 
and  the  speedy  approach  of  white  population. 

Along  the  vast  chain  of  the  snow-topped  Andes,  or  Rocky  Mountains, 
nature  has  spread,  on  each  side,  a  barren  desert,  of  irreclaimable  steril 
ity.  To  what  extent  this  sandy  desert  spreads  to  the  west  of  those 
Mountains,  and  what  exceptions  to  its  barrenness  may  occur,  we  have 
not  the  means  of  knowing.  Dr.  James  allows  it  an  average  width,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  mountains,  of  between  500  and  600  miles.  We  are 
pretty  confident,  however,  that  that  part  of  it  which  will  be  found  to  be 
irreclaimable  by  industiy,  will  be  far  less  than  the  above  estimate  makes 
it.  We  shall  be  safe  in  supposing  the  uninhabitable  desert  to  be  at  least 
between  three  and  four  hundred  miles  in  width.  Add  to  this  the  regions 
of  the  mountains,  and  the  desert  on  the  west,  and  we  have  an  uninha 
bitable  region  of  five  or  six  hundred  miles  in  width,  certainly,  (with  the 
exception  of  a  few  inconsiderable  valleys  within  the  region  of  the  moun 
tain  itself)  and  extending  south  and  north  into  the  Mexican,  and  Bri 
tish  territories. 

This  vast  region  is  not  termed  'a  desert,  merely  on  account  of  the 
partial,  or  entire,  absence  of  timber,  but  chiefly  because  the  soil  itself 
is  of  a  quality  that  cannot  be  rendered  productive  by  the  industry  of 
man.  No  portion  of  our  territories  furnish  so  few  inducements  to  civil 
ized  man  to  seek  in  it  a  dwelling-place,  as  that  under  consideration. 

This  wide  desert  must  for  ever  form  an  important  border  to  our  white 
settlements  within  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  especially  so,  when  we 
consider  that  the  streams  on  each  side  ]eadfrom  the  mountains,  and  so 
far  are  calculated  to  direct  commerce  from  this  region,  rather  than  to,  or 
through  it.  Add  to  the  foregoing  considerations  the  impracticability  of 
navigating  most  of  the  streams  in  the  desert,  as  for  instance  the  Platt, 
and  the  entire  impossibility  of  canalling  in  that  thirsty  region,  destitute 
of  clay  and  stone,  and  we  are  assured  that  our  conclusions  are  correct. 

From  observation,  and  information  derived  from  others  on  which  I 
can  rely,  I  suppose  that  soil  and  timber  will  admit  of  settlement  about 
200  miles  west  of  Arkansaw  Territory,  and  the  State  of  Missouri.  We 
propose  that  above  the  western  line  of  Missouri,  the  Missouri  river  shall 
be  the  boundary  of  the  Indian  territory  on  the  north-east  and  north,  as 
far  as  the  mouth  of  Puncah  river  ;  thence  up  Puncah  river  as  far  as  the 
country  is  habitable.  By  this  we  describe  a  country  about  600  miles  in 
length,  between  the  latitudes  of  about  33°  and  43°,  and  200  miles  in 
width.  Farther  west  we  may  suppose  the  country  to  be  un^phabitable. 
This  country  is  generally  high,  healthy  and  rich,  its  extent  adequate  to 
the  purposes  under  consideration ,  and  the  climate  desirable.  Thus  si- 


34 

tuated,  with  the  desert  in  their  rear,  with  no  important  navigable  stream 
leading  into  their  country,  but  precisely  the  reverse,  with  no  induce 
ments  in  the  sterile  plains  behind  them  to  tempt  the  enterprise  of  white 
men,  the  colony  would  be  on  an  outside  of  us,  and  less  in  our  way  than 
could  have  been  imagined,  had  not  nature  thus  marked  the  hourtderies 
for  us.  I  cannot  conceive  why  we  may  not  relinquish  to  them  this 
country,  and  assure  them  that  it  shall  be  theirs  for  ever. 

We  admit  that  there  is  a  scarcity  of  timber  generally  throughout  the 
district  we  have  described.  It  contains,  however,  abundance  of  coal, 
and  experience  in  all  prairie  countries,  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Mis 
souri,  tells  us,  that  where  there  is  not  a  defect  in  the  soil  itself,  the  tim 
ber  will  improve  both  in  quantity  and  in  quality,  with  the  settlement  of 
the  country  ;  because  the  grazing  of  cattle,  &c.  opposes  the  annual  fires 
which  sweep  over  those  grassy  countries  to  the  great  destruction  of  the 
forests,  and  to  the  prevention  of  the  growth  of  shrubs  which  take  root  in 
the  prairies.  By  a  judicious  division  of  woodland  and  prairie,  among 
the  first  inhabitants,  there  would  be  timber  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants 
of  many  years ;  and  it  is  presumeable  that  its  improvement  would  be 
equal  to  the  increasing  demands  of  the  colony. 

A  good  grazing  country  must  be,  of  all  others,  the  best  adapted  to  the 
condition  of  a  people  in  their  transition  from  the  hunter  to  the  civilized 
state.  The  comparative  ease  with  which  cattle  were  raised  by  our 
southern  Indians,  was  no  doubt  a  circumstance  that  greatly  facilitated 
the  improvement  of  their  condition.  In  the  case  before  us,  we  have 
not,  after  leaving  the  regions  of  Arkansas  river,  the  dense  and  exten 
sive  cane-brakes  which  have  afforded  winter's  food  for  thousands  of  cat 
tle  in  the  south.  But  that  this  is,  nevertheless,  an  excellent  grazing 
country,  none  will  question  ;  and  this  very  fact,  I  trust,  will  contribute 
not  a  little  to  its  commendation.  The  plains  will  afford  abundance  of 
pasturage  for  summer,  arid  hay  for  winter. 

Objections  to  the  place  we  are  considering,  will  be  raised  upon  the 
supposition  that  the  native  inhabitants  of  that  country  may  become  hos 
tile  to  the  colonists. 

After  observing  that  the  same  objections  will  apply  with  almost  equal 
weight,  to  perhaps  any  other  territory  that  could  be  thought  of  for  such 
a  purpose,  we  may  remark  that  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  of  our  being 
able  to  conciliate  the  present  inhabitants.  A  portion  of  the  emoluments 
which  they  would  realize  from  the  negotiations  by  which  their  claims  to 
the  country  would  be  extinguished.,  so  far  as  the  case  should  require, 
might  be  expended  in  the  improvement  of  their  own  lands,  the  erection 
of  buildings,  the  furnishing  of  them  with  domestic  animals,  imple 
ments  of  agriculture,  <fcc.  So  that  from  the  very  beginning,  and  if  need 
be,  even  previously  to  the  settling  of  strangers  in  their  country,  they 
would  perceive  the  advantages  which  would  result  to  them  from  the 
measure.  If  we  can  purchase  Indian  lands  and  settle  them  with 
white  men,  why  may  we  not  do  the  same  with  equal  safety  when  the 
settlers  are  Indians.  The  circumstance  would  not  so  readily  be  view 
ed  as  an  intrusion,  as  if  the  settlers  were  not  of  their  own  countrymen, 
kindred,  and  colour.  The  effect  in  this  respect,  as  in  many  others, 
would  be  very  different  from  that  sometimes  produced  by  the  removal 
westwardly,  or  northwardly,  of  these  people  in  former  cases  ;  when  they 
were  left  to  make  peace  or  war,  as  they  chose,  with  their  neighbours. 


35 

In  the  present  case  the  emigrants  would  he  kept  under  the  control  and 
management  of  the  United  States.  The  number  of  the  first  settlers 
being  small,  would  be  more  manageable ;  and  while  they  would  be  in 
creasing  in  number,  there  would  be  an  increase  of  restraint  arising  from 
individual  and  common  interest,  from  improvement  of  mind,  and  from 
habitual  regard  for  the  regulations  provided  by  our  Government.  The 
colonists  being  prevented  from  trespassing  upon  their  neighbours,  would 
have  very  little  to  fear  from  them. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  colonizing  plan  is  calculated  to  crowd 
together  unfeeling  savages,  of  different  tribes,  with  sectional  feelings,  and 
old  grudges,  and  now  seconded  by  new  causes  of  jealousy,  the  utter 
ruin  of  the  whole  by  faction  and  murder,  must  ensue.  Such  conclu 
sions  as  these,  to  say  the  least,  must  be  hasty.  Were  we  to  fancy  a 
dozen  different  tribes,  some  of  whom  were  at  variance  with  each  other, 
and  all  of  whom  possessed  their  national  prejudices,  brought  together 
on  a  small  portion  of  territory,  which  would  require  their  houses  to  be 
within  sight  of  each  other,  and  their  farms  to  be  united,  we  might  draw 
such  conclusions.  But  when  we  consider  the  extent  of  territory  which 
all  will  allow  ought  to  be  set  apart  for  the  ultimate  objects  of  the  design, 
the  smaliness  of  each  party  that  shall  first  arrive,  and  the  different  pe 
riods  at  which  their  several  locations  would  be  made,  the  conclusion 
need  not  be  drawn  that  they  will  be  crowded  at  all.  They  may  be 
placed  just  so  near  to  each  other  as  a  prudent  regard  to  the  condition  of 
each,  in  view  of  the  whole,  would  suggest,  and  no  nearer.  Although 
the  different  tribes,  as  for  example,  the  Shawanoes,  Miamies,  Ottawas, 
Puttawatomies,  Sauks,  Foxes,  Winebagoes,  Menomines,  and  Chippe- 
was,  might  be  placed  upon  much  less  ground  than  is  at  present  covered 
by  them,  yet  the  contaction  of  the  several  tribes  would  be  precisely 
what  it  is  in  their  present  situation.  We  apprehend  a  density  of  each 
tribe;  but  the  limits  of  each  tribe  or  band  would  only  come  in  contact 
as  they  do-  at  present — and  if  each  were  provided  with  the  means  of 
living  only  as  well  as  in  their  present  miserable  condition,  there  would 
exist  no  greater  cause  of  collision,  than  there  does  in  the  state  in  which 
those  several  tribes  are  at  this  moment  placed.  But  let  us  take  particu 
lar  notice,  that  the  several  tribes  would  be  far  better  supplied  with  the 
comforts  of  life  than  they  are  at  present,  and  therefore  the  grounds,  in 
all  respects,  on  which  we  might  fear  the  collision  of  the  tribes,  would 
be  proportionably  lessened. 

Some  light  will  be  thrown  upon  this  part  of  our  subject,  when  we 
shall  have  under  consideration  the  process  of  removing  the  several 
tribes  to  the  colony.  Let  us,  however,  bear  in  mind  that  no  tribe,  no 
portion  of  a  tribe,  would  be  left  in  the  colony  subject  to  the  influence 
of  lawless  passions.  No  band  would  be  destitute  of  the  influence  of 
those  benevolent  institutions,  which,  among  other  useful  lessons,  never 
fail  to  teach  peace.  None  will  be  bold  enough  to  deny  that  missionary 
establishments,  under  the  countenance  of  oar  Government  and  a  pru 
dent  management,  can  exert  an  extensive,  and  in  this  respect  as  well  as 
in  others,  a  salutary  influence.  The  instructions  of  missionaries,  given 
in  the  schools  and  from  the  pulpit,  and  the  authority  of  our  Govern 
ment,  doubtless  furnish  strong  reasons  for  silencing  our  fears  of  internal 
broils.  If  our  Government  can  now  interpose  its  authority  to  the  set 
tling  of  disputes  between  contending  tribes,  each  of  which  spreads  out 
over  hundreds  of  miles  of  forest,  how  much  more  readily  could  it  con- 


36 

trol  the  same  people,  if  so  situated  that  every  member  of  the  commti- 
nity  would  be  daily  under  the  notice  of  the  proper  officers,  and  within 
the  certain  influence  of  restraints  by  them  imposed] 

Again,  it  is  never  imagined  that  the  Indians  will  be  forced  into  the 
colony  contrary  to  their  inclinations.  And  as  the  business  of  colonizing, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  natives,  originates  in  benevolence,  no  unright 
eous  means  will  be  employed  to  buy  the  consent  of  any  to  remove  to 
the  colony.  Sound  argument  alone,  strengthened  by  an  exhibition  of 
facts,  and  by  honest  engagements  not  liable  to  disappoint  the  hopes 
they  excite,  will  be  resorted  to.  We  may  expect,  therefore,  that  those 
who  will  be  induced  first  to  listen  to  proposals  to  renaove,  will  be  such 
as  are  most  inclined  to  follow  the  advice  of  our  Government.  The 
very  fact  that  a  fair  ingenuous  course  will  influence  them  to  leave  their 
former  residences,  and  settle  in  the  colony,  augurs  strongly  that  the 
same  honest  course  of  conduct,  the  same  authority,  will  influence  them 
to  remain  peaceable  among  themselves.  I  cannot  here  forbear  the  re 
mark,  that  their  case  must  involve  far  less  grounds  for  civil  disturbances, 
than  does  the  situation  of  these  people  at  the  present  time. 

I  shall  not  do  my  countrymen  the  injustice  to  suppose  that  serious 
objections  to  colonizing  the  Indians,  or  to  colonizing  them  west  of  Ar- 
kansaw  Territory  and  Missouri  State,  and  south-west  of  Missouri  river, 
will  be  made  upon  the  supposition  that  the  colonists  might  ultimately 
acquire  strength  sufficient  to  tempt  them  to  assert  independent  rights, 
and  to  avenge  supposed  injuries,  to  the  serious  annoyance  of  the  neigh 
bouring  States.  The  above  objections  would  indicate  an  absence  of 
righteous  intention  on  our  part.  If  we  have  done  them  no  injustice, 
conscious  integrity  has  nothing  to  fear.  If  we  have  injured  them,  the 
language  of  the  objection  would  be,  Let  us  make  fast  the  fetters,  lest 
the  captives  turn  upon  their  keepers  ;  let  us  complete  the  work  of  death 
already  begun,  lest  the  opprest  should  survive  their  sufferings  and 
avenge  their  wrongs. 

Insulated  as  would  be  the  colony  in  the  district  of  country  under  con 
sideration,  they  would  have  little  intercourse  with  any  people  besides 
ourselves,  and  could  therefore  inhale  no  seditious  sentiments  from  abroad. 
The  geography  of  the  country  is  such  that  no  important  commercial 
intercourse  with  foreigners  could  possibly  exist.  Their  exports  would 
necessarily  be  carried  into  or  through  our  country,  and  their  imports 
would  return  by  the  same  rout.  These  circumstances  would  produce 
the  same  ties  of  connexion  and  mutual  interest  between  them  and  us, 
that  national  roads  and  canals  effect  between  the  several  States  of  our 
Union.  The  colony  would  grow  up  under  the  guardianship  of  our 
Government,  and  would  imbibe  its  spirit  and  revere  its  insitutions  ;  and 
it  could  not  fail  to  admire  the  enlightened  age,  and  the  humane  policy 
which  gave  them  "beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness."  The  objection  which 
we  have  been  denouncing,  would  extend  to  most  cases  of  benevolence, 
and  forbid  our  helping  the  needy ;  forbid  the  adopting  of  a  hapless 
orphan  into  our  family,  lest  the  beneficiary  should  ultimately  assert  an 
improper  authority. 

All  our  Indians  within  the  States  and  Territories,  and  those  to  the 
north-west,  might  here  obtain  peaceable  and  undisturbed  possessions, 
which  they  cannot  hope  for  in  states  and  territories  already  organized. 


37 

Should  it  be  asked  what  assurance  can  be  given  to  the  Indians  that 
they  will  not  be  disturbed  in  the  proposed  place,  as  they  have  heretofore 
been  in  others  ?  I  answer  the  most  unequivocal  of  which  such  a  case 
admits.  The  local  advantages  of  the  place  are  peculiar  in  their  cha 
racter,  and  as  peculiarly  favourable  in  the  permanency  of  their  posses 
sion.  It  is  entirely  without  the  precincts  of  every  organized  State  or 
Territory.  It  would  be  the  first  instance  of  an  Indian  settlement  being 
formed  under  the  auspices  of  Government,  not  within  the  limits  describ 
ed  by  us  for  states,  or  within  territorial  jurisdiction.  We  may  not  infer 
the  uncertainty  of  their  residence  from  what  has  been,  for  no  parallel 
case  ever  occurred.  It  is  proposed  to  give  them  a  territorial  form  of 
government.  They  would  hold  their  territory  and  its  immunities  upon 
the  faith  of  the  United  States  ;  all  which  would  be  as  secure  to  them  as 
the  privileges  of  the  Territories  of  Arkansas  and  Michigan  are  to  their 
inhabitants.  Giving  to  the  natives  this  country,  would  not  be  an  abridge 
ment  of  territory  or  privilege  of  any  state,  and  consequently,  none  could 
or  would  complain. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

On  the  Removal  of  the  Indians  to  the  Colony. 

IP  we  have  been  successful  in  commending  the  proposed  design  of 
colonizing  the  Indians ;  if  we  have  found  ourselves  in  possession  of 
ample  means  ;  and  if  we  have  been  fortunate  in  the  selection  of  place; 
we  may  very  properly  inquire,  Can  the  Indians  be  induced  to  accept  the 
proposals  of  our  Government  to  settle  in  the  colony  ? 

Proposals  made  a  few  years  since,  to  the  Stockbridge  and  Brother- 
town  Indians  in  New-York,  to  remove  to  the  westward  of  Lake  Michi 
gan,  wene  objected  to  by  many  of  them  :  notwithstanding  which,  a  con 
siderable  settlement  of  these  people  was  afterwards  formed  in  the  vicin 
ity  of  Green  Bay,  which  would  have  increased  rapidly  had  it  not  be 
come  obvious  that  they  could  not  retain  permanent  and  peaceable  pos 
session  of  the  place. 

In  1824  proposals  were  made  by  the  United  States'  Commissioners 
to  the  Shawanoes  of  Waupaughkonetta,  in  Ohio,  to  remove  to  west 
ward  of  Mississippi  river.  These  proposals  were  not  acceded  to  at  the 
time.  Nevertheless,  without  any  special  interference  of  our  Govern 
ment,  and  it  is  believed  contrary  to  the  advice  of  white  men,  who  might 
be  supposed  to  have  considerable  influence  among  them,  and  whose 
private  interest  it  was,  that  the  Indians  should  remain  in  Ohio,  about 
one  third  part  of  them  moved  off  in  a  body,  in  October,  1826,  to  the 
western  country  which  had  previously  been  offered  them.  Their  new 
settlement  on  Ranzo  river  is  flourishing,  they  are  contented,  and  are 
inviting  others,  and  particularly  thei$  relations  in  Ohio,  to  follow  them. 

Every  one  knows  something  of  the  strong  attachments  which  the 
Cherokees  feel  to  their  country  east  of  Mississippi  river ;  yet  we  al 
ready  find  thousands  of  this  tribe  west  of  that  river.  These  emigrant 


38 

Cherokees  are  not  worthless  stragglers.  They  possess  hundreds  of 
farms,  well  stocked  with  domestic  animals,  and  well  supplied  with 
farming  utensils. 

Passing  over  the  migrations  of  the  Kickapoos  of  Illinois,  the  Dela- 
wares,  and  some  of  the  Miamies  of  Indiana,  and  the  Creeks  of  Geor 
gia,  and  many  others,  we  assure  ourselves  that  the  cases  we  have  cited 
above  are  in  point,  and  that  they  do  afford  convincing  proof  that  the 
Indians  may  be  removed  to  the  proposed  country,  and  that  they  may  be 
removed  by  fair  and  honourable  measures. 

The  inducements  to  a  change  of  country  in  the  cases  cited  above, 
must  have  been  incomparably  less  than  those  which  our  colony  is  ex 
pected  to  offer.  Most  or  all  of  them  migrated  from  the  ordinary  prin 
ciple  of  retiring  from  the  whites  as  the  latter  approached,  and  without 
that  systematic,  certain,  and  efficient  provision  for  their  instruction,  and 
their  assistance,  which  the  colonizing  scheme  proposes.  We  have  there 
fore  good  grounds  to  believe  that  so  soon  as  they  can  be  convinced  that 
the  proposals  of  our  Government  are  made  in  sincerity,  the  invitations 
which  the  colony  will  give  them,  will  be  accepted  with  joy,  and  the 
period  hailed  as  the  dawn  of  a  clear  day,  worthy  of  being  jubilized, 
when  "  the  outcasts  and  they  that  were  ready  to  perish"  shall  begin  to 
return  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  a.  peaceable  and  a  permanent 
HOME. 

At  the  treaty  of  Wabash,  Indiana,  in  September  and  October,  1826, 
proposals  were  made  by  the  United  States'  Commissioners,  to  the  Put- 
tawatomies  and  to  the  Miamies,  to  remove  to  the  west  of  Mississippi 
river.  They  were  told  that  Government  would  provide  them  a  country 
somewhere  in  those  regions,  and  furnish  them  with  schools,  smiths,  &c. 
A  missionary  who  had  spent  many  years  among  them,  and  whose  use 
fulness  in  instructing  them  in  a  knowledge  of  letters,  and  of  labour,  not 
to  say  religion,  could  not  be  doubted  by  them,  was  offered  as  their  guide, 
and  a  promise  made  that  the  missionary  operations  of  the  establishment 
to  which  he  was  attached,  should  be  continued  among  them  in  their  new 
country.  Notwithstanding,  these  Indians  refused  to  remove.  This  was 
only  what  we  might  have  expected.  Indeed  it  happened  precisely  ac 
cording  to  the  expectation  of  the  Commissioners  themselves.  But  this 
circumstance  furnishes  no  solid  argument  against  the  practicability  of 
removing  these  very  tribes.  The  proposals  were  not,  they  could  not  be, 
made  to  them  under  the  favourable  circumstances  that  the  colonizing 
plan  anticipates.  They  were  told  that  another  country  should  be  given 
them  in  exchange  for  theirs,  which  should  equal  it  in  value,  &c.  and 
which  should  be  somewhere  west  of  Mississippi  river.  But  they  could 
not  be  informed  in  what  section  of  those  western  countries  theirs  would 
be,  who  would  be  their  neighbours,  &c.  Their  answer  therefore  was 
precisely  such  as  we  might  expect  sensible  men  to  give.  •  Who  that  was 
i  not  obliged  to  leave  his  country,  would  be  willing  to  barter  upon  such 
terms'?  Since  that  time,  a  few  Puttawatomies,  under  authority  of  Go 
vernment,  have  explored  a  portion  of  that  country.  The  result  is,  a 
consideraJ3le  number  of  them,  together  with  some  of  their  Ottawa 
brethren,  wish  to  remove  thither. 

Let  Government  provide  the  place,  and  a  suitable  person,  one  in  whom 
the  Indians  place  confidence,  to  conduct  a  few  of  their  people  to  visit 
it,  and  report  its  character  to  their  tribe,  and  the  subject  would  address 
itself  to  their  understandings  very  differently  from  the  case  above  cited. 


Those  civilizing  establishments  which  exist  in  some  of  the  tribes,  and 
which  enjoy  the  favour  of  our  Government,  could,  without  doubt, 
induce  a  number  of  families  to  remove  to  the  colony  at  any  time.  I 
risk  nothing  in  saying  that  I  have  an  acquaintance  with  one  such  insti 
tution,  which  could  readily  induce  two  or  three  hundred  to  follow  some 
of  its  members  to  the  colony,  and  these  should  be  taken  from  five  differ 
ent  tribes.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  Government  shall  point  out  the  place, 
a  settlement,  or  settlements  can  be  formed  from  this  single  source,  of  five 
different  tribes. 

These  settlements,  let  it  be  understood,  would  be  formed  without  any 
further  intervention  of  our  Government  than  the  providing  of  the  place, 
&c.  and  the  necessary  countenance  to  those  benevolent  institutions. 
When  once  some  of  each  tribe  should  be  actually  planted  in  the  colony, 
under  the  favourable  provisions  of  our  Government,  we  should  be  pro 
perly  prepared  to  propose  to  the  several  tribes  at  home  to  remove.  We 
could  point  to  the  precise  spot  on  which  we  designed  to  locate  them, 
could  show  them  their  relations  on  the  ground,  the  provisions  in  school, 
smitheries,  &e.  made  for  their  accommodation.  The  honesty  of  our 
intentions,  and  the  policy  of  their  acceptance  of  our  proposals,  would 
be  demonstrated  to  their  understandings.  They  would  clearly  perceive 
that  the  measure  was  very  unlike  the  ordinary  affair  of  removing  back 
the  Indians,  merely  for  the  sake  of  ridding  ourselves  of  their  trouble, 
and  leaving  them  destitute  of  efficient  means  of  improvement.  Under 
these  circumstances,  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  can  exist,  that  the  ma 
jority  of  the  tribes  would  readily  accept  the  offers  of  our  Government. 
The  circumstances  of  the  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  Choctaws,  and 
Creeks,  east  of  Mississippi  river,  merit  a  distinct  consideration  in  this 
place.  Most  other  tribes  are  incapable  of  assuming  the  attitude  of  a 
party  in  making  arrangements  for  their  future  residence.  With  these 
it  is  otherwise.  The  Cherokees,  particularly,  have  shown  themselves 
capable  of  framing  a  judicious  constitution  of  civil  government,  and  a 
wholesome  code  of  laws.  They  have  come  out  boldly,  and  declared 
their  legal  right  to  the  country  they  at  present  occupy,  east  of  the  Mis 
sissippi.  All  this  is  well.  We  are  gratified  to  discover  among  them  so 
much  manliness  and  good  sense.  Hence,  we  infer  the  readiness  with 
which  they  will  exchange  countries,  as  soon  as  they  shall  perceive  that 
it  will  be  for  their  interest  so  to  do . 

The  subject  under  consideration  admits  of  demonstration.  Its  posi 
tions  are  sustained  by  arguments,  the  force  of  which  cannot  remain 
unfelt  by  the  intelligent  Cherokees.  Men  capable  of  forming  them 
selves  into  an  independent  government,  can  easily  enough  perceive  the 
incongruity  of  the  supposition,  that  an  independent  state  can  exist  within 
the  acknowleged  boundaries  of  another  independent  state  !  They  can 
perceive  the  obstacles-  to  their  becoming  citizens  of  the  states  within  the 
limits  of  which  they  are  at  present  situated ;  nor  can  they  indulge  the 
most  distant  hope  that  we  will  curtail  any  state,  much  less  strike  one 
from  the  list,  for  the  purpose  of  making  room  for  them  in  the  south. 
They  must  perceive  the  cloud  which  is  daily  accumulating  over  them, 
and  feel  assured  that  theirs  is  not  the  place  of  safety.  They  make  a 
declaration  of  their  rights,  which  will  doubtless  be  respected,  and  this 
is  a  proper  method  to  secure  respect.  But  they  cannot  be  so  blind  to 
their  best  interests  as  to  refuse  the  proposed  territory,  since  they  cannot 


40 

but  see  in  this  offer,  the  only  hope  of  averting  the  stroke  which  threaten* 
the  existence  of  their  nation. 

The  southern  Indians  have  inducements  to  remove,  beyond  what 
others  feel.  In  improvement  they  are  greatly  in  advance  of  others, 
and  therefore  feel  greater  love  of  life  and  its  enjoyments.  They  know 
that  in  the  Indian  territory,  their  superior  acquirements  will  give  them 
the  ascendency  among  their  brethren,  and  that  situations  of  honour,  trusty 
and  profit,  will  be  occupied  chiefly  by  themselves.  The  amount  of 
property  which  some  of  them  possess,  will  not  be  at  all  unfavourable 
to  their  removal.  Wealth  does  not  prevent  our  citizens  from  emigrat 
ing  to  new  countries.  The  rich  as  well  as  the  poor,  are  willing  to 
change  places  when  they  can  pretty  certainly  find  their  account  in  it. 

In  addition  to  aggrandizement,  the  spirit  of  Christian  benevolence 
which  they  have  imbibed,  must  have  great  influence  upon  their  choice 
in  favour  of  removal.  A  people  who  can  form  among  themselves 
charitable  associations  for  the  relief  of  those  of  another  nation,  must 
feel  great  solicitude  for  their  perishing  countrymen,  and  could  not  re 
fuse  so  favourable  an  opportunity  of  doing  them  good  as  would  be 
offered  in  the  territory.  There  they  could  afford  the  less  improved,  the 
influence  of  precept  and  example  in  whatever  relates  to  time  and  to 
eternity. 

It  is  presumeable  that  some  families  would  choose  to  remain,  and  be 
come  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The  prospect  of  this,  would  in 
crease  their  anxiety  for  the  removal  of  their  people  generally,  whose 
departure  would  dissipate  many  existing  obstacles  to  their  naturaliza 
tion,  and  relieve  them  of  a  heavy  burden. 

But  admitting  that  some  tribes,  or  parts  of  tribes,  unprepared  for 
citizenship,  would  cling  to  the  lands  of  their  fathers,  and  we  should  find 
their  objections  to  removal  too  obstinate  to  be  conquered  by  the  plain 
facts  and  arguments  which  the  case,  as  above  stated,  would  furnish ; 
still  we  would  by  no  means  despair  of  ultimate  and  complete  success. 
The  main  principle,  which,  above  all  others,  ties  them  to  the  land  of 
their  relations,  can  be  brought  under  our  control,  and  made  to  operate 
in  favour  of  their  removing  to  the  colony. 

We  have  assumed  the  ground  without  fear,  that  some  of  the  several 
tribes  could  presently  be  taken  to  the  colony.  These  would  have  their 
influence  with  their  kindred  and  people  left  behind,  by  whom  they 
would  be  occasionally  visited,  &c.  The  result  of  the  intercourse  be 
tween  the  colonists  in  comfortable  and  flourishing  condition,  and  their 
relations  left  on  their  original  possessions,  who  would  be  miserably  de 
clining  under  accumulating  woes,  is  not  problematical.  One- after  ano 
ther  would  be  drawn  into  the  colony.  Now,  an  Indian  says,  I  will  not 
leave  this  country  because  here  are  my  relations — then,  he  would  say,  I 
will  remove  to  the  colony  because  there  are  my  kindred.  The  Creeks 
who  have  recently  settled  on  the  Arkansas  river  are  affectionately  invit 
ing  their  kindred  on  the  east  of  Mississippi  to  join  them,  and  the  dis 
position  to  emigrate  thither  is  daily  increasing. 

In  urging  the  necessity  of  the  plan  under  consideration,  we  interpose 
not  the  slightest  objection  to  the  continued  operations  of  missionary 
establishments  as  they  at  present  exist.  On  the  contrary,  we  propose 
an  increase  of  those  institutions,  and  that  they  be  carried  on  with  ener 
gy.  For  as  we  multiply  those  institutions,  and  extend  the  influence  of 
their  operations,  we  increase  the  number  of  those  best  prepared  by 


41 

habit  and  disposition  to  settle  in  the  colony.  These  institutions  would 
remain  in  the  original  places  of  the  tribes,  so  long  as  the  number  of  those 
tribes  remaining  would  demand  their  labours.  These  institutions  would 
direct  all  the  pupils  of  their  schools,  on  completing  their  several  courses, 
to  the  colony.  These  youths,  assisting  by  their  improved  understand 
ing,  their  affinity  to  their  people,  and  the  fond  feelings  aroused  by  their 
adieus,  would  be  powerful  auxiliaries  in  aid  of  the  removal  of  neigh 
bouring  Indians,  unconnected  with  the  schools.  All  would  be  told  that 
they  were  not  solicited  to  go  into  a  land  of  strangers  or  enemies — there 
are  teachers,  with  some  of  whom  you  are  personally  acquainted — our 
brothers,  men  who  are  teaching  the  same  things  that  we  are  in  this 
place,  and  who  will  afford  you  in  that  place  the  same  aid  that  we  do  in 
this,  in  things  relating  to  time,  and  to  eternity. 

Finally,  the  inducements  which  would  invite  them  into  the  colony, 
and  their  increasing  wretchedness,  which  would  urge  them  to  leave  their 
original  residences,  it  is  fully  believed,  would  not  only  meet  the  design 
of  our  Government,  but  would,  in  regard  to  the  facility  of  their  removal, 
far  exceed  the  expectations  which  had  been  indulged  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  undertaking. 

It  is  proper,  however,  before  we  dismiss  this  part  of  our  subject,  to  ob 
serve,  that  notwithstanding  the  preceding  remarks,  we  are  well  aware  of 
some  formidable  obstacles  to  the  proposed  removal  of  the  Indians. 
The  obstacles  to  which  we  allude  will  not  derive  either  their  origin  or 
their  support  from  the  Indians  themselves,  but  both  will  be  found  in  the 
avarice  of  white  men,  near  to,  or  mingling  with  the  Indians,  whose  in 
terest  it  is  for  the  natives  to  remain  where  they  are,  and  in  their  present 
condition. 

I  deeply  regret  the  necessity  of  mentioning  this  circumstance,  but 
justice  to  my  subject,  to  the  Indians,  and  to  my  own  conscience,  demand 
it  of  me.  We  may  prepare  to  encounter  a  host  of  opposers,  consist 
ing  of  traders  both  licensed  and  unlicensed,  many  of  them  speaking 
the  Indian  language  fluently,  and  in  habits  of  daily  intercourse  with 
them,  often  allied  by  marriage,  and  otherwise  by  blood,  and  of  many 
others,  who  profit  more  or  less  by  a  commission  from  our  Government, 
for  the  performance  of  services  in  the  Indian  department.  Remove  the 
Indians,  and  the  fountain  fails.  Some  estimate  of  the  difficulties  aris 
ing  from  this  quarter,  may  be  formed  on  considering  the  influence  which 
the  number  of  those  interested  persons,  under  their  favourable  oppor 
tunities,  may  exert  on  the  minds  of  these  ignorant,  uninformed  people, 
whose  prejudices  against  us  are  generally  inveterate,  raid  whose  jeal 
ousies  are  ever  on  the  alert.  Considering  also,  that  in  the  transacting  of 
business  with  the  Indians,  Government  has  generally  been  under  the 
necessity  of  availing  itself  of  the  services  of  these  very  persons.  The 
story  requires  much  delicacy  in  the  telling,  and  perhaps,  has  never  been, 
nor  will  it  now  be  plainly  told,  that  scarce  a  treaty  with  the  Indians 
occurs,  in  which  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  States  are  not  oblig 
ed  to  shape  some  part  of  it  to  suit  the  convenience  of  some  of  this  class 
of  persons. 

While  on  this  topic,  let  us  record  it  to  the  honour  of  our  Government 
and  of  the  individuals  concerned,  that  the  former  has  riot  been  so  inju 
dicious  in  the  selection  of  its  officers  for  the  Indian  department,  whose 
services  are  performed  in  the  Indian  country,  as  not  to  provide  men  of 
an  opposite  character  to  that  of  which  we  have  just  now  complained. 

6 


42 

We  know  that  Government  has  in  this  important  trust,  officers  who  are 
men  of  the  most  honest  intention,  and  of  irreproachable  character. 
These  men,  from  the  nature  of  their  business,  soon  become  well  known 
to  the  Government,  and  to  the  public  in  general.  Their  talents  and  in 
tegrity  raise  them  above  suspicion.  Should  those  men  object  to  the 
colonizing  of  the  Indians,  it  would  be  received  as  the  effusion  of  senti 
ment,  and  not  of  selfishness.  Their  instructions  from  Government  will 
be  faithfully  followed,  whatever  may  be  their  own  private  opinions. 
Still  it  does  not  follow  that  we  have  not  much,  very  much  to  fear  from 
the  hundreds  who  will  array  themselves  in  the  ranks  pointed  out  above. 
The  object  may  nevertheless  be  attained.  Our  Government  is  not  so 
feeble  as  to  be  frustrated  in  a  noble  design  which  involves  her  own 
character,  and  the  national  salvation  of  thousands  of  languishing  suf 
ferers  within  her  territories,  who  are  imploring  her  assistance.  The 
Government  can  accomplish  any  thing,  and  every  thing,  which  the  plan 
requires,  and  do  it  with  convenience  to  itself. 

It  is  always  to  be  regretted  when  avarice  gets  the  advantage  of  the 
judgment  of  men.  Neither  companies  nor  individuals  of  respectabili 
ty  in  the  Indian  trade,  have  any  thing  to  fear  from  the  colonizing  scheme. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  fur  trade  has  been  many  years  on  the  decline, 
and  that  it  must  necessarily  continue  to  decline.  I  speak  on  general 
terms.  Individuals  or  companies  may  enlarge  their  business,  and  may 
extend  their  trade  to  some  sections  of  country  less  frequented  by  traders 
than  others,  and  by  these  and  similar  means  realize  an  excess  of  profit. 
We  all  readily  enough  conceive  the  causes  of  decline,  so  far  as  relates  to 
the  diminution  of  fur-bearing  and  other  animals,  by  tfee  approach  of 
white  settlements,  and  the  increase  of  the  trade.  But  I  cannot  suppose 
that  its  ruin  would  be  materially  hastened  by  merely  collecting  together 
into  one  body  the  Indians  mainly.  Fur-bearing  animals  would  multi 
ply  no  less,  and  so  long  as  there  remain  forests  and  furs  in  them,  there 
will  not  be  wanting  men  to  take  them. 

The  only  just  grounds  upon  which  respectable  traders  could  antici 
pate  a  diminution  of  their  profits,  is  the  probability  that  the  Indians 
would  leave  their  country,  and  the  whites  take  possession  of  it,  sooner 
than  these  events  would  occur  by  the  ordinary  process  of  removing  them. 
But  what  are  the  profits  of  trade  realized  from  the  wretched  hordes  of 
Indians  in  New-England,  New- York,  Ohio,  and  those  on  the  frontiers 
of  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Illinois;  or  with  the  four  southern  tribes? 
With  some  it  is  nothing,  and  with  others  it  is  a  mere  trifle.  The  fact  is 
that  the  trade  in  a  great  portion  of  the  country  which  we  naturally  first 
think  of  in  our  colonizing  scheme,  merits  very  little  attention  from  regular 
traders,  but  is  left  chiefly  to  those  who  have  neither  talents  nor  money 
to  enter  upon  business  profitably.  Some  of  the  more  northwardly  parts 
of  the  regions  under  consideration  afford  a  trade  sufficient  to  invite  the 
attention  of  enterprising  traders ;  and  let  it  be  observed  that  these  places 
would  be  the  last  affected  by  the  removal  of  the  Indians  to  the  colony. 
The  interests  of  the  whites  and  the  interests  of  the  Indians,  alike  re- 
•juTs  that  the  first  to  be  removed  should  be  those  nearest  to  our  settle 
ments,  and  of  course  of  least  importance  in  the  fur  trade. 

Nearly  allied  to  this  subject  is  the  rapid  diminution  of  the  Indians, 
as  for  example,  the  once  formidable  tribe  of  Miamies,  now  reduced  to 
about  one  thousand  souls.  The  number  of  Indians  employed  in  the  chase 
diminishes  yearly.  The  presumption  is,  that  colonizing  would  not  so 


43 

materially  accelerate  the  diminution  of  those  who  would  engage  in  the 
proper  seasons  in  taking  skins  for  traffic,  as  at  first  we  should  be  inclin 
ed  to  suppose.  The  colony  providing  not  only  for  their  rescue  from  the 
course  of  casualties  and  crime,  which  is  prematurely  hunying  them  out 
of  time,  but  also  for  their  positive  increase  in  numbers,  would  thrive 
upon  the  excess.  Admitting,  however,  that  by  the  opening  of  the 
colony,  the  number  of  actual  hunters  would  be  lessened,  which  indeed 
we  believe  would  be  the  case ;  yet  the  amount  of  peltries  would  not 
thereby  be  diminished ;  an  individual  would  take  the  more. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Regulations  of  the  Colony  in  Relation  to  Laws  and  Men. 

WE  have  all  along  held  out  the  idea  that  the  United  States  would 
provide  for  the  colony  laws  and  officers  for  the  execution  of  them.  We 
are  prone  to  extremes.  Hitherto,  in  the  matter  of  Indian  reform,  we 
have  done  too  little.  When  we  take  hold  of  the  subject  in  earnest, 
there  is  reason  to  fear  we  shall  do  too  much  ;  and  in  no  point  is  there  so 
much  danger  of  excess  as  in  that  which  relates  to  giving  them  laws  and 
men. 

In  the  judicial  department,  the  wants  of  the  colony  in  its  infancy  will 
be  very  few.  It  is  not  in  the  savage,  but  in  the  civilized  state  that  men 
learn  to  practise  the  intrigues  of  law.  The  whole  code  of  Indian  laws, 
if  we  may  apply  such  terms  in  the  case,  is  comprised  in  a  few  regulations 
of  the  most  plain  and  simple  character;  and  yet  they  extend  to  all  their 
wants  about  as  well  as  our  volumes  do  to  ours.  I  am  not  expressing  an 
opinion  with  regard  to  either  the  utility  or  the  righteousness  of  their 
codes.  An  Indian  taken  from  the  woods,  could  about  as  readily  com 
prehend  the  science  of  chemistry,  as  the  utility  of  the  numerous  laws 
by  which  one  of  our  States  is  governed.  Our  Government,  apprized  of 
this  fact,  would  not  shock  their  feelings  and  alarm  their  fears  by  impos 
ing  on  them  laws,  which,  in  their  estimation,  would  be  abstruse  and 
superfluous. 

If  our  Government  were  at  first  to  place  in  the  colony  Judges,  Clerks, 
Sheriffs,  Constables,  &c.  &c.  as  might  be  proper  in  the  formation  of  a 
colony  of  people  taken  from  our  States,  it  would  be  a  serious  hindrance 
rather  than  a  help  in  their  reformation.  It  would  place  the  colonists 
in  a  situation  so  dependent  as  to  check  in  them  the  spirit  of  improve 
ment.  As  persons  assured  of  ample  support  from  their  guardians  would 
feel  less  ambitious  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  business,  than  if  left  to 
provide  for  themselves,  so  these  might  be  made  to  feel  the  influence  of 
a  paralyzing  dependence. 

We  presume  that  our  Government  would,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  settlement,  furnish  them  merely  with  such  agents  as  their  immediate 
wants  would  require,  without  anticipating  subsequent  ones ;  and,  if 
need  be,  would  afterwards  add  men  and  measures.  It  is  confidently 
believed  that  few,  very  few  officers  of  our  appointing,  and  of  our  citi- 


44 

zens,  would  ever  be  needed.  We  easily  perceive  that  in  the  infancy 
of  the  colony  they  would  not,  and  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  their 
wants  for  men  and  measures,  would  be  an  increase  of  competency  in 
the  colonists  to  provide  both.  So  far  as  the  colonists  would  possess 
tolerable  capacity  for  the  management  of  their  own  internal  concerns, 
they  ought,  certainly,  to  be  allowed  to  exercise  it.  By  this  means  they 
would  promote  a  spirit  of  national  pride  that  would  accelerate  their 
improvement  in  every  respect. 

Notwithstanding  the  wretched  condition  of  the  people  under  consi 
deration,  I  presume  that,  from  the  very  commencement  of  the  settle 
ment  of  the  colony,  they  would  be  far  better  provided  with  men  of  their 
own  tribes,  to  manage  their  business  of  every  kind,  than  even  our 
Government  is  aware  of.  There  are  many  promising  Indian  youths  of 
moral  deportment,  and  sterling  talents,  who,  under  the  patronage  of 
benevolent  societies,  and  the  favour  of  Government,  will  have  eminent 
ly  qualified  themselves  for  usefulness  in  the  colony.  We  are  acquaint 
ed  with  one  single  school  in  the  Indian  country,  and  that  not  the  oldest, 
which,  in  the  space  of  three  years,  has  placed  in  suitable  seminaries  in 
the  states  of  New-Jersey,  New-York,  Vermont,  and  Ohio,  twelve  of  its 
pupils,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  special  qualifications  for  usefulness 
among  their  countrymen.  These  youths  belonging  to  four  different 
tribes,  were  taken  from  the  rudest  savage  haunts,  and  taught  in  the  Mis 
sion  School,  habits  of  industry,  and  afforded  that  knowledge  of  letters, 
which  the  time  of  their  attendance  allowed,  and  were  selected  from 
among  their  fellow-students,  as  candidates  for  other  stations  among  their 
countrymen,  than  the  field,  or  the  shop.  Two  of  them  are  studying 
with  a  view  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  others,  with  a  view  to  ser 
vices  in  the  schools,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  affairs  of  Government.* 
These  are  not  solitary  instances  of  similar  preparations. 

*  What  an  unanswerable  argument  in  favour  of  colonizing1  the  Indians,  is  found 
in  this  circumstance !  The  benevolence  of  societies  and  of  our  Government  in 
structs  Indian  youths,  in  domestic,  agricultural,  and  mechanic  arts,  and  in  a  word, 
prepares  different  persons  for  filling1  with  acceptance  every  department  of  a  civil 
and  religious  community,  not  excepting1  the  affairs  of  state.  But  deny  us  the  colo 
ny,  and  these  very  amiable  youths  are,  in  a  manner,  put  out  of  the  world.  Their 
fine  feeling's  could  not  brook  the  degradation  with  which  our  prejudices  would 
daily  load  them,  if  resident  among'  us;  and  what  will  the  knowledge  they  have  ac 
quired  in  arts  and  sciences  profit  them  amoi.g  their  barbarous  countrymen  ?  Where, 
let  me  ask,  upon  the  face  of  our  continent,  can  the  farmer  make  his  field,  or  the 
workman  his  shop,  in  the  hope  of  the  undisturbed  occupancy  of  either,  and  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  man,  in  common  with  those  around  him?  Where  will 
those  of  them  whom  we  have  made  men  of  science,  find  scope  for  the  employment 
of  their  acquirements? 

I  must  again  advertise  my  reader  that  I  am  not  theorizing.  My  remarks  are  based 
upon  facts  which  have  occurred  under  my  personal  observation.  To  go  no  further 
than  the  case  of  the  twelve  Indian  youths  mentioned  above :  Their  benefactors,  after 
they  had  brought  them  up  from  savage  to  civil,  and  even  genteel  manners,  and  had 
reared  some  of  them  nearly  and  others  quite  to  manhood,  found  their  condition  in 
volved  in  a  dilemma,  from  which  the  anticipation  of  a  colony  alone  could  deliver 
them.  The  tribes  to  which  they  belonged  were  in  their  unimproved,  savage,  and 
unsettled  state,  with  slight  exceptions  which  had  recently  occurred.  The  time 
had  arrived  for  these  youths  to. leave  the  institution  in  which  they  had  been  brought 
up.  Whither  should  they  go  *  With  the  exceptions-  drawn  from  our  preceding 
observations,  no  alternative  is  left  but  for  them  to  return  to  their  savage  country 
men:  a  people  who  had  no  use  for  a  knowledge  of  letters,  who  were  unsettled, 
and  could  not  give  one  acre  of  land  in  fee  to  even  one  of  their  own  children ;  a 


45 

By  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  colony,  for  the  introduction  of  set 
tlers,  there  will^be  many  who  have  been  instructed  in  the  Mission 
schools,  in  a  knowledge  of  domestic,  mechanic,  and  agricultural  arts, 
ready  to  enter  it,  and  to  pursue  these  useful  employments;  also,  many 
who  had  never  been  connected  with  schools,  but  who,  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  the  civilizing  establishments,  have  been  influenced  to  adopt,  in  a 
degree,  the  habits  of  civilized  life.  These  united  with  the  hundreds  of 
industrious  and  well  informed  Indians  of  the  south,  would  furnish  nearly 
all  the  public  men  which  the  government  would  require. 

These  facts  convince  us  -that  it  will  not  be  necessary  for  the  United 
States  to  furnish  many  agents  besides  what  may  be  really  necessary  to 
manage  affairs  between  one  tribe  and  another,  and  the  location  of  each, 
&c.  We  must  here  avail  ourselves  of  a  thought  that  occurs,  which 
will  add  not  a  little  to  our  arguments  in  support  of  the  opinion  that  the 
colonists  could,  pretty  easily,  be  kept  in  peace  among  themselves ;  that 
is,  the  colony  would  be  commenced  with  improved  materials,  prepared 
by  the  purest  Doctrines  of  benevolence,  either  in  approved  schools,  or 
in  their  neighbourhoods,  and  with  the  civilized  southern  Indians. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Concluding  Arguments  and  Remarks. 

We  have  more  than  once  assumed  that  the  plan  of  colonizing  the 
Indians,  provides  for  the  earlier  removal  of  them  than  could  otherwise 
be  expected.  When  we  consider  the  interest  which  all  who  are  engaged 
in  the  work  of  Indian  reform  would  feel  in  the  colonizing  of  these 
people,  and  their  influence  over,  at  least  the  pupils  of  their  schools,  and 
the  Indians  in  their  immediate  neighbourhoods;  when  we  reflect  on 
the  suitableness  of  the  place  proposed,  and  the  assurance  of  assistance, 
and  of  the  good  faith  of  our  Government,  that  can  be  given  to  under- 

people  abandoned  to  every  vice,  without  a  home,  without  a  hope!  No  wonder  if 
they  who  had  sacrificed  the  society  of  friends,  and  the  comforts  of  civilized  life, 
and  who  had  .encountered  extraordinary  hardships  in  a  residence  in  the  Indian 
country  for  the  sake  of  saving"  those  youths  from  the  wretchedness  of  their  less  for 
tunate  countrymen,  should,  after  all  their  privations  and  labours,  regret  that  these 
fruits  of  their  toils  were  under  the  necessity  of  returning-  to  the  haunts  of  bar 
barism. 

I  wish  that  I  could  say  the  evil  had,  in  no  instance,  advanced  further  than  to  a 
menace  of  our  hopes,  as  in  the  cases  stated  above.  But  I  am  not  so  happy.  I  am 
personally  acquainted  with  many  Indian  youths  who  have  been  brought  up  by  the 
hand  of  benevolence,  and  have  completed  their  courses  in,  and  left  the  institutions, 
who  are  at  this  moment  like  friendless  outcasts,  to  whom  the  earth  has  denied  a  place. 
beyond  the  extent  of  a  grave  —  half-mingling  with  their  people,  from  whose  wretch 
edness  and  depravity  they  recoil,  and  half-mingling  with  the  whites,  where  their 
bitterness  of  soul  becomes  not  less  intolerable.  The  evil  is  progressing.  Scores 
of  amiable  Indian  youths  are  in  the  schools,  rising  to  manhood  and  womanhood, 
with  knowledge  and  virtue  rendering  them  worthy  of  equality  in  the  scale  of  the 
most  honoured  and  happy  of  our  race,  who  must  presently  be  dismissed  from  the 
schools  under  the  sickening  prospects  above  stated. 


46 

standing  Indians  of  influence  in  their  tribes,  we  flatter  ourselves  that 
the  ground  we  have  taken  will  not  be  disputed.  We  trust  that  all  will 
agree  that  a  nucleus  to  the  colony  could  not  only  be  formed  imme 
diately,  but  it  could  be  formed  under  circumstances  peculiarly  favour 
able  to  a  rapid  accession.  Moreover,  there  are  Creeks,  Cherokees, 
Choctaws,  and  Shawanoes,  already  in  that  country,  all  of  whom  have 
made  considerable  advances  in  civilization.  Delawares,  Osages,  Kanzas, 
and  others  now  there,  could  at  once  be  subjected  to  the  regulations  of 
the  territory.  It  only  remains  for  government  to  appropriate  the  ter 
ritory,  and  establish  its  regulations,  and  we  shall  find  the  settlement 
of  the  country  already  considerably  advanced. 

In  view  of  all  the  circumstances  relating  to  this  matter,  I  think  few 
will  venture  to  doubt  that  the  people  of  whom  we  are  speaking  could, 
with  some  exceptions  among  those  of  the  south,  be  removed  to  the  co 
lony,  just  as  speedily  as  our  Government  would  choose.  Most  of  them 
are  so  under  the  controlling  influence  of  the  United  States,  that  they 
can  be  removed,  without  coercion,  at  almost  any  time,  I  mean,  as 
matters  at  present  stand,  without  any  colonizing  measures.  It  would 
be  our  interest  indeed  to  have  them  out  of  our  way ;  but  motives  of  hu 
manity  forbid  removing  them,  until  some  provisions  be  made  for  their 
subsequent  accommodation.  An  almost  insatiable  thirst  for  the  exten 
sion  of  our  settlements,  prevails  generally  throughout  the  United  States. 
When  the  natives  shall  be  provided  with  a  peaceable  and  permanent 
habitation,  conscience  and  interest  will  alike  say,  Let  them  go. 

On  page  23  we  expressed  a  hope  that  we  should  be  able  to  make 
it  appear,  that  by  colonizing  the  Indians,  an  item  of  annual  expenditure 
of  our  Government  of  some  moment,  would  be  superseded.  The  item 
to  which  we  alluded,  is  that  allowed  to  Indian  Agents,  Sub-Agents,  and 
Interpreters.  The  United  States  have  employed  in  the  department  of 
Indian  agencies,  four  superintendents,  twenty  agents,  thirty-six  sub- 
agents,  and  thirty-eight  interpreters.  The  salaries  of  the  first  amount 
to  $4,600;  of  the  second,  to  $28,300;  of  the  third,  to  $18,600;  and  of 
the  fourth,  to  $15,031 :  making  an  aggregate  of  $66,531  expended  an 
nually  in  salaries  in  this  department.  Colonizing  the  Indians  would,  in 
a  short  time,  supersede  one  half  or  more  of  the  agencies,  and  an  equal 
proportion  of  the  expense,  say  $33,265 :  50  per  annum.  This  is  not  a 
trifling  sum  to  be  positively  saved  on  the  single  item  of  salaries  con 
nected  with  Indian  agencies ;  and  the  period  would  arrive  when  no  part 
of  it  would  be  required.  Add  this  annual  saving  to  any  supposed  dis 
advantage  that  would  result  to  us  from  the  execution  of  the  plan,  or  as 
the  matter  plainly  appears  to  me,  add  it  to  the  supposed  real  advantages 
which  the  scheme  promises  to  us,  and  it  alike  commends  the  design  of 
colonizing  the  Indians. 

On  this  subject  I  have  usually  throughout  preferred  speaking  in  ge 
neral  terms,  especially  on  the  government  of  the  colony.  I  have  deemed 
it  prudent  to  avoid  shackling  our  plan  with  small  particulars,  on  which 
there  might  be  a  diversity  of  opinion,  and  which  might  be  varied,  with 
out  materially  affecting  vital  principles.  When  once  the  main  lines  are 
drawn,  the  details  can  easily  be  filled  up.  The  language  of  existing 
measures  will  be  easily  understood,  when  they  call  for  the  adoption  of 
new  ones.  We  shall  deem  it  sufficient  on  this  point  to  add  our  settled 
opinion,  that  Government  need  not  employ  in  this  matter,  either  a  great 
number  of  men,  or  a  great  amount  of  money ;  the  success  of  the  enter- 


47 

prise  will  not  depend  upon  either,  or  upon  both.  But  to  insure  success, 
we  should  begin  in  the  proper  place,  and  move  on  with  system.  "We 
should  first  find  the  place,  and  then  look  out  for  the  people  to  fill  it. 
And  the  very  same  acts  which  will  furnish  the  people,  will,  at  the  same 
time,  provide  the  means  for  placing  them  in  the  colony.* 

We  cannot  too  soon  take  hold  of  this  subject  in  good  earnest.  We 
have  already  too  long  delayed  it.  Our  delay  has  been  a  pecuniary  loss 
to  us  of  thousands, — may  I  not  more  properly  say,  of  millions  of  dol 
lars,  and  of  thousands  of  valuable  lives,  wasted  in  wars  with  the  In 
dians, — while  at  the  same  time,  we  have  interposed  no  effectual  preven 
tive  of  the  wastings  and  woos  of  this  ill-fated  people. 

We  are  not  prepared  to  state  with  precision  the  amount  of  money 
which  has  been  expended  by  the  United  States  on  Indian  wars  ;  but  we 
believe  that  we  shall  be  safe  in  supposing  that  one  tenth  part  of  the 
amount,  judiciously  applied  to  the  reformation  of  the  Indians,  on  the 
plan  proposed,  would  have  superseded  all  necessity  for  the  expenditure 
of  the  remaining  nine  tenths — would  have  prevented  most  of  the  fright 
ful  calamities  of  our  Indian  wars ;  and,  instead  of  leaving  among,  and 
near  to  us,  a  miserable  and  perishing  people,  would  have  ornamented 
our  happy  land  with  another  state,  connected  with  those  which  do  ex 
ist,  by  such  ties  as  would  sit  easily  and  advantageously  upon  both,  em 
bracing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  happy  people. 

Our  civilizing  institutions  know  not  whither  to  direct  the  subjects  of 
their  charge  on  the  completion  of  their  courses.  Too  many,  alas,  of 
those  once  hopeful  beneficiaries  are  already  sinking  to  ruin  by  our  de 
lay.  Why  should  we  begin  the  work  of  Indian  reform,  and,  leaving  it 
incomplete, lose  the  labour  and  the  funds  we  have  bestowed  upon  it?  Our 
benevolent  institutions  which  are  at  present  in  operation  are  good ;  they 
are  efficient  so  far  as  we  ought  to  expect  them  to  be.  But  they  cannot 
reach  the  whole  case.  The  system  is  incomplete.  These  institutions 
cannot  be  expected  to  change  the  wildernesses  in  which  they  are  loca 
ted,  into  fruitful  fields,  as  applied  to  the  natives ;  for  it  is  well  under 
stood  that  the  natives  must  shortly  leave  those  places  for  others  unknown, 
or  be  exposed  to  more  certain  ruin.  Those  establishments  can  do  no 

*  From  a  desire  to  exhibit  the  colonizing  plan  in  a  light  as  unexceptionable  as 
possible,  I  have  not  pressed  the  claims  of  the  Indians  to  the  full  extent  that  my 
own  judgment  carries  me.  Our  proposals  in  respect  to  monied  means,  are  made 
more  favourable  to  us,  than  comports  with  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  the  mag 
nanimity  of  a  wealthy  and  righteous  nation.  We  can,  and  we  ought  to  do  more 
for  them  than  I  have  proposed,  and  a  hope  is  indulged  that  a  generous  and  humane 
public  will  honourably  protest  against  its  littleness. 

It  would  well  comport  with  the  character  of  our  country,  and  our  abundant  re 
sources,  to  make  a  direct  appropriation  of  a  respectable  sum,  for  the  immediate 
relief  of  the  Indians,  and  not  wait  the  less  expeditious  progress  of  our  plan.  If  we 
were  poor  and  could  not  pay  our  just  debts,  or  bestow  a  needed  charity,  we  could 
find  an  apology  for  the  omission  of  both.  But  we  are  not  poor.  No  nation  upon 
earth  can  so  easily  discharge  debts  of  either  justice  or  benevolence,  as  ours.  And 
it  is  fondly  hoped  that  in  disposition  we  shall  be  found  to  excel,  even  more  than  in 
means. 

We  have,  for  a  few  years  past,  been  trying  the  experiment  of  an  appropriation 
for  purposes  of  Indian  reform,  of  $10,000  per  annum.  The  success  of  the  expe 
riment  has  exceeded  what  had  been  our  most  sanguine  expectations.  Taught  by 
experience  how  to  apply  and  where  to  apply,  the  dignity  of  our  liberal  institutions 
calls  upon  us  to  say  at  once,  we  will  apply  to  this  object  a  sum  becoming  our  cha 
racter,  and  commensurate  with  the  exigencies  of  the  case. 


48 

more  than  take  the  rude  timbers  of  the  forest,  and  prepare  them  for  the 
building.  Here  their  labours  end.  Unless  we  add  other  operations  for 
the  purposes  of  collecting  together,  and  of  uniting  the  materials,  we 
shall  have  the  mortification  of  seeing  the  objects  on  which  we  have  be 
stowed  much  labour,  successively  perishing  amidst  the  more  neglected 
mass.  We  have  actually  arrived  at  the  place  where  we  are  constrained 
to  feel  the  want  of  immediate  relief,  such  alone  as  the  colonization 
system  provides  for.  1  have  not  only  witnessed  the  dilemma  of  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  Indian  reform,  but  also,  with  my  own 
ears,  again  and  again,  heard  reflecting  pupils  of  the  schools,  whose 
good  understanding  Jed  them  to  foresee'  the  darkness  which  intercepted 
their  march,  inquire  of  their  benefactors,  "  Whither  shall  we  go,  what 
shall  we  do  when  we  leave  you?"  I  wish  that  one  half  only,  of  the 
anxiety  and  evil  which  attend  this  stage  of  our  work  of  Indian  reform, 
-could  be  distinctly  understood  by  those  who  possess  power  to  help.  The 
single  instance  of  one  whom  I  beheld  weeping  alone,  and  who,  on  my 
inquiry,  declared  the  cause  of  his  grief  to  be  the  anxiety  to  which  I 
have  referred  above,  would  furnish  argument  in  favour  of  colonizing 
these  people,  worth  volumes  of  speculations. 

How  exceedingly  Discouraging  must  be  the  work  of  civilizing  Indians, 
to  those  engaged  in  it,  under  existing  circumstances.  They  form  mis 
sionary  establishments  in  the  wilderness  under  great  disadvantages  and 
privations,  and  all  under  the  sickening  reflection,  that  these  stations 
must  soon  be  abandoned  for  others,  to  be  made  in  other  forests,  further 
back,  to  which  the  people  for  whom  they  toil  will  soon  be  driven. 
With  a  long  trial  of  their  patience,  they  at  length  prevail  on  some  of 
their  rude  neighbours  to  erect  houses,  and  enclose  fields.  They  have 
the  satisfaction  to  see  them  beginning  to  raise  domestic  animals,  and  to 
hush  the  cryings  of  their  half-starved  children  by  something  like  a  regu 
lar  supply  of  wholesome  food.  They  would  congratulate  themselves  on 
the  prospect  of  receiving  an  ample  reward  for  their  labours ;  but  the 
thought  perpetually  haunts  them — These  people  must  soon  quit  their 
fields  and  houses,  and  go  back  into  the  wilderness  again,  or  what  is 
worse,  be  circumscribed  to  a  small  spot,  surrounded  by  white  popula 
tion — in  which  case  their  destiny  ceases  to  be  doubtful ;  or  they  must  be 
made  to  feel  the  effects  of  State  laws,  to  their  ruin. 

But  with  all  the  regret  which  benevolent  associations  feel  on  these 
accounts,  even  when  their  labours  are  aided  by  the  patronage  of  Govern 
ment,  they  have  not  the  power  of  improving  the  matter.  They  may 
form  new  establishments,  and  strengthen  old  ones.  But  they  have  not 
the  power  of  procuring  a  single  spot  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth, 
on  which  they  may  locate  the  people  of  their  charge,  and  say,  Here 
you  may  "  sit  under  your  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and  none  shall  make 
you  afraid."  This  power  is  vested  alone  in  Government — to  our  Go 
vernment  we  appeal — we  do  it  in  behalf  of  a  people  who,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  cannot  plead  their  own  cause,  some  of  whom  at  this  mo 
ment  sit  by  my  side.  Oh  that  God,  who  made  the  world  to  be  inhabited 
by  man,  would  grant  a  little  space  for  the  occupancy  of  these  people  ! — 
Would  grant  them  some  room  in  the  sympathies  of  our  Government! 


49 

A  BRIEF  RECAPITULATION  shall  dose  our  remarks. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  Aborigines  of  our  country  are 
not  noxious  vermin  of  which  we  ought  to  rid  the  world,  but  men,  enti 
tled  to  the  rights  of  men.  The  justice  of  their  claims  to  the  soil  they 
inhabit,  is  not  inferior  to  the  most  righteous  and  undisputed  title,  that 
any  people,  in  any  part  of  the  earth,  ever  preferred  to  a  portion  of  it. 
These  people,  whatever  may  have  become  of  a  portion  of  their  pro 
perty,  or  wherever  may  be  the  residue  of  it  at  present,  have  left  a 
wretched  remnant,  lingering  on  our  borders,  immersed  in  misery,  rapidly 
sinking  into  extinction,  and  without  power  to  save  themselves.  Unless 
our  Government  pluck  the  half-consumed  brands  from  the  fire,  they  will 
soon  disappear.  We  have  the  means  of  doing  it — of  doing  it  without 
loss  to  ourselves,  and  in  all  probability,  with  positive  convenience  and 
profit.  We  have  the  best  place  which  our  portion  of  the  continent  ever 
afforded  for  such  a  purpose,  yet  unoccupied  by  us,  to  give  them  for 
their  perpetual  home,  and  we  can  conveniently  and  speedily  remove 
them  to  it.  In  their  case  there  is  no  alternative ;  without  colonizing 
them,  they  will  inevitably  perish,  as  past  experience  testifies;  with  it 
they  will  be  saved,  as  evidence  no  less  indubitable  has  incontestably 
proved.  Shall  we  save  them  or  not  ?  HEAVEN  AND  HUMANITY  DIRECT 

THE  ANSWER ! 


APPENDIX 


No.  1. 

Reasons  for  Writing,  tyc.  . 

THE  following  numbers  arc  not  written  from  a  fondness  for  writing, 
nor  from  a  supposition  that  I  shall  be  able  to  tell  what  no  one  else 
knows;  but  because  I  feel  confident  that  the  state  of  the  case  requires 
something  to  be  written  at  this  time ;  because  I  know  of  no  one  else 
who  will  write  upon  this  subject;  and  because  I  am,  in  providence,  so 
situated,  that  it  would  be  particularly  criminal  in  me  to  omit  doing  any 
thing  within  my  power,  for  the  melioration  of  the  condition  of  the  In 
dians. 

The  foregoing  pages  were  designed,  on  their  first  publication,  as  an 
appeal  to  our  government  in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  We  all  well  under 
stand  in  whom  authority  is  vested,  and  who  sit  at  the  helm  of  our  pub 
lic  affairs.  Of  those  persons,  we  have  respectfully  solicited  and  have 
obtained  a  hearing.  The  reflection  is  pleasant,  that  our  prayer  is  only 
a  response  to  the  correct  thoughts  and  generous  feelings  of  the  rulers 
and  lawgivers  of  our  nation.  More  than  ordinary  interest  has  recently 
been  manifested  on  this  subject,  and  matters  obviously  appear  to  be  ap 
proximating  a  crisis;  and,  we  trust,  a  favourable  one.  As  might  be 
expected,  we  find  the  wise  and  the  good  differing  in  the  choice  of  mea 
sures  for  the  accomplishment  of  an  end  alike  desirable  to  all.  There 
fore,  every  grain  which  can  be  cast  into  the  scale  of  information,  is  at 
this  time  particularly  called  for,  and  every  correct  thought  disclosed  may 
contribute  somewhat  to  a  favourable  influence  on  the  beam.  Even  erro 
neous  sentiments  on  this  subject  had  better  become  public,  than  be 
allowed  a  secret  influence  upon  our  conduct.  Let  the  error  be  known, 
and  it  may  be  corrected. 

The  last  two  administrations  have  commended  the  measures  which 
alone,  we  are  constrained  to  believe,  are  calculated  to  rescue  the  Indians 
from  extinction.  After  such  respectable  commendations  of  the  subject 
to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  it  may  to  some  appear  presuming  for 
us  to  add  our  entreaties  and  remarks;  but  I  am  confident  that  the  mat 
ter  is  not  thus  viewed  by  the  parties  just  alluded  to,  who  have  had  the 
subject  under  consideration.  The  measures  have  been  commended, 
and,  through  the  proper  officers  of  the  department,  facts  and  arguments 
have  been  stated.  This  was  designed  to  elicit  inquiry,  information,  and 
action. 

Members  of  Congress  are  the  representatives  of  the  people,  whom  it 
is  their  happiness  to  serve,  and  especially  those  of  their  own  particular 
districts,  when  it  can  be  done  in  accordance  with  the  interests  of  the 
whole. 

Wrongs  of  our  government  in  relation  to  the  Indians,  have  been  ex 
pressed  in  terms  proper  enough  for  those  who  employed  them,  but 


51 

which,  from  their  plainness  would  be  rather  indecorous  in  me.*  Now, 
let  it  be  known  to  us  all  that  these  errors  of  our  government,  of  which 
our  public  men  speak  without  reserve,  are  not  crimes  particularly  of  our 
representatives,  nor  of  any  class  of  public  officers.  Ours  is  a  govern 
ment  of  the  people,  and  an  error  of  the  government  is  one  in  which  the 
p«ople  are  implicated.  What  our  government  authorities  have  done, 
has  been  done  in  accordance  with  the  general  impulse  of  the  commu 
nity.  Our  public  officers  serve  us,  and  have  done  it  with  fidelity  unex 
ampled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  They  are  themselves  an  integrant 
part  of  the  people  ;  they  carry  with  them  to  their  seats  of  authority  and 
deliberation,  the  feelings  and  views  of  the  people,  and  in  them  is  formed 
the  focus  of  our  desires.  If,  therefore,  as  is  universally  believed,  the 
policy  of  government  in  relation  to  the  Indians,  has  heretofore  been 
wrong,  a  proper  method  of  correcting  the  wrong  would  be  to  attempt  a 
reformation  in  the  community  in  general.  We,  therefore,  earnestly  en 
treat  all  into  whose  hands  our  remarks  may  fall,  not  to  consider  the 
subject  as  belonging  exclusively  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  and 
heads  of  departments,  but  one  which  presents  itself  to  the  serious  in 
vestigation  of  every  benevolent  person  in  the  United  States. 

In  illustration  of  my  views,  allow  me  attention  to  one  case  only,  in 
which  our  public  functionaries  have  repeatedly  told  us  errors  have  oc 
curred,  fraught  with  destruction  to  the  Indians,  to  wit:  the  quick  suc 
cession  with  which  treaties  have  been  held  with  them  for  the  extinguish 
ment  of  their  title  to  land.  It  is  no  more  likely  that  these  treaties  ori 
ginated  with  officers  of  government  than  with  others.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  Commissioners  have  sometimes  entered  upon  these  duties 
with  a  degree  of  reluctance,  and  in  compliance  with  the  general  wish, 
rather  than  with  their  own  personal  inclinations.  An  insatiable  thirst 
for  wealth  and  for  territory  pervades  the  community.  Some  enterpris 
ing,  not  to  say  ambitious  citizens,  form  schemes,  the  accomplishment  of 
which  requires  the  extinguishment  of  Indian  title  to  a  certain  tract  of 
country.  The  desires  of  those  persons  are  easily  diffused  among  others, 
and  readily  find  their  way  to  our  public  authorities,  accompanied  by 
importunities.  When,  therefore,  we  again  hear  of  lands  being  pur 
chased  of  the  Indians,  let  us  not  say  they,  but  we  have  done  it.  It  is 
time  that  all  who  feel  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians  should,  by 
open  and  candid  investigation,  elicit  the  most  eligible  plans  for  their 
improvement,  and  while  every  one  feels  ready  to  yield,  if  necessary, 
some  points  of  minor  consequence,  let  us  endeavour  to  unite  upon  vital 
principles,  and  make  a  simultaneous  and  unceasing  effort. 


No.  II. 
Character  of  Indian  Missions. 

Whoever  dispassionately  views  the  subject  of  colonizing  the  Indians, 
will  perceive  that  it  is  a  work  of  time,  not  to  be  effected  in  a  few  years. 
It  so  happens  that  self-interest  is,  in  general,  the  predominant  principle 

*  See  Reports  to  Congress  of  Secretaries  Calhoun  and  Barbour,  in  1824  and 
1826,  and  speeches  in  Congress  of  Messrs.  M'Lean,  Lumpkin,  Smith,  and  others, 
in  1828. 


52 

in  government ;  consequently,  those  tribes  which  are  least  in  our  way, 
we  shall  feel  least  desirous  to  remove.  Hence  we  hear  much  said  re 
specting  the  removal  of  the  southern  Indians,  and  less  respecting  that 
of  others.  We  may,  therefore,  expect  the  necessity  for  missions  to  con 
tinue  undimiriished  for  many  years  to  come.  It  is  possible  that  in  the 
Indian  territory,  missionary  operations  may  assume  slight  shades  of  dif 
ference  from  those  among  the  several  tribes  in  their  original  places. 
This  difference  will  occur  merely  in  accommodation  to  the  circumstances 
in  which  each  will  be  placed.  It  will  be  proper  to  prosecute  missionary 
operations  in  each  tribe  to  the  greatest  extent  practicable,  because  by  so 
doing  they  may  the  more  readily  be  induced  to  remove  to  the  territory. 
Every  missionary  would  be  influenced  by  the  directions  of  the  society  he 
served,  by  the  instructions  of  government,  and,  most  of  all,  by  his  own 
solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  people,  to  persuade  them  to  remove. 
All  civilizing  agents  would  be  desirous  to  exchange  their  temporary  re 
sidences  among  the  several  tribes  for  such  as  would  be  permanent;  and 
no  pains  would  be  spared  by  them  to  accomplish  it.  All  the  circum 
stances  of  the  case  would  facilitate  the  views  of  government. 

Further,  those  efforts  should  be  prosecuted  with  energy,  because  by 
them  emigrants  to  the  territory  would  be  prepared,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  for  citizenship.  This  would  tend  greatly  to  obviate  difficulties 
which  some  persons  have  anticipated,  from  a  supposed  heterogeneous 
assemblage  of  savages.  Those  establishments  are  at  present  too  few ; 
their  increase  is  desirable  in  proportion  to  the  interest  we  feel  in  the 
improvement  of  the  Indians. 

At  present  those  institutions  are  supported  chiefly  by  the  munificence 
of  benevolent  associations  and  individuals,  and  in  part  by  appropria 
tions  of  Congress  for  that  special  purpose,  and  by  treaty  stipulations. 
Arguments  are  numerous  and  strong  in  favour  of  the  whole  expense 
being  met  by  government,  without  applying  a  charity  of  any  one  in  the 
case.  But  should  the  benevolent  perceive  that  the  improvement  of  the 
natives  would  be  rendered  precarious  by  withholding  their  bounty,  they 
would  deem  it  not  only  a  duty  but  a  privilege  to  give.  I  fully  believe 
this  would  be  the  case  for  the  following  reasons. 

Government  allowances  have  generally  been  applied  in  conjunction 
with  funds  of  benevolent  societies.  (See  "  Remarks,"  page  24.)  By 
this  means  the  application  of  the  same  has  been  strictly  and  success 
fully  guarded  against  abuse.  This  fact  is  the  highest  commendation 
which  this  plan  could  receive  as  proper  for  time  to  come.  When  the 
improvement  of  the  Indians  becomes  a  business  entirely  of  the  govern 
ment,  it  will  be  impossible  to  defend  it  from  abuse.  No  matter  how 
wise  and  well-disposed  may  be  men  in  authority,  the  nature  of  the  case 
is  such  as  past  experience,  in  relation  to  our  intercourse  with  the  In 
dians,  has  unquestionably  proven,  that  it  is  impossible  for  Government 
to  oversee  fhe  subject  so  as  to  render  its  good  management  certain. 
There  is  something  of  principle,  something  of  the  tenderness,  patience, 
and  endurance  of  benevolence  and  religion  required  in  the  matter  of 
Indian  improvement.  The  people  whom  we  propose  to  relieve  are  feeble 
and  dependent;  authority  and  strength  may  be  requisite  in  providing 
the  home,  and  even  the  cradle  of  the  infant,  but  it  is  the  gentle  hand, 
guided  by  the  tenderest  feelings  of  the  human  heart,  that  sooths  its  sor 
rows. 


53 

In  all  our  doings  for  the  benefit  of  our  fellow  men,  we  should  keep  in 
sight  what  human  nature  is  in  him  who  gives,  as  well  as  in  him  wha 
receives.  Such  is  our  nature  that  should  the  matter  of  Indian  improve 
ment  become  a  business  of  government  alone,  and  cease  to  be  considered 
an  enterprise  of  benevolence,  the  solicitude  for  success,  which  is  one  of 
the  main  springs  of  action,  even  in  government  itself,  would  abate.  Our 
Presidents,  Secretaries,  Congressmen,  &c.  who  have  encouraged  Indian 
improvement,  have  all  acted  under  the  influence  of  principles  of  bene 
volence  ;  not  as  derived  from  government,  as  such,  but  as  being  them 
selves  a  part  of  that  community  in  which  has  lately  been  awakened  and 
cherished  to  a  happy  extent,  a  spirit  of  "  good  will  towards  man." 
The  policy  of  government  has  remained  much  the  same  from  the  first, 
with  only  such  changes  in  favour  of  the  Indians  as  equalled  the  im 
proved  state  of  society  in  the  United  States. 

Within  a  few  years  past,  more  than  ordinary  concern  for  the  welfare 
of  our  fellow  men  has  pervaded  our  country  generally.  The  wretched 
have  every  where  been  sought  out  by  the  hand  of  kindness,  from  the 
obscure  hovels  in  the  suburbs  of  our  cities,  to  the  weather-beaten  sa 
vage  who  flies  o'er  the  plain  or  lurks  in  the  wood.  It  is  this  spirit  of 
humanity  and  kindness  that  has  prompted  our  rulers  and  lawgivers  to 
action  in  the  case  under  consideration,  they  being  themselves  a  part  of 
the  people  who  are  subjects  of  its  influence.  Benevolent  societies  and 
individuals,  therefore,  should  not  abate  the  fervency  of  their  prayers, 
nor  lessen  the  amount  of  their  charities ;  rather  both  should  be  aug 
mented,  under  a  full  conviction  that,  by  so  doing,  they  contribute  most 
effectually  to  the  adoption  and  to  the  promotion  of  such  measures  of 
government  as  are  calculated  to  accomplish  the  end  desired.  Should 
benevolent  societies  and  individuals  cease  to  invest  funds  in  establish 
ments  for  Indian  improvement ;  their  missionaries,  should  they  be  care 
ful  to  provide  them,  would  become  accountable  to  the  government  only, 
and  not  to  them.  Those  societies  would  lose  both  their  right  and  their 
inclination  to  direct;  the  present  salutary  effects  of  their  watchful  super 
intendence  would  consequently  cease. 

This  subject  has  been  fruitful  in  speculations  relative  to  the  most  eli 
gible  mode  of  operation.  But  it  is  fully  believed  that  few  defects  of 
magnitude  can  be  detected  in  the  present  generally  approved  plan.  I 
have  supposed  that  only  one  existed,  viz.  the  schools  being  composed  of 
both  sexes.  For  the  same  reasons  which  induce  us  to  form  separate 
schools  for  the  sexes  in  our  states,  I  would  advise  that  they  be  kept  dis 
tinct  among  the  Indians,  especially  among  those  in  the  territory.  Mo 
dern  missionary  operations  do  not  suffer  ,ty  a  comparison  with  former 
ones.  The  success  of  our  labours  in  preparing  many  Indians  for  a  bet 
ter  condition  than  that  of  their  dependent  relatives,  is  a  reason  which 
strongly  urges  the  adoption  of  a  different  policy  of  government. 

Missionaries  to  the  Indians  enter  upon  labours  widely  different  from 
those  of  missionaries  to  most  other  heathen  nations.  Take,  for  exam 
ple,  a  mission  to  Hindostan  or  Burmah.  In  either  of  those  places  it  is 
not  necessary  to  adopt  measures  to  render  the  people  stationary,  because 
they  are  already  so.  While  each  Indian  tribe  knows  its  own  limits,  be 
yond  which  they  only  occasionally  pass,  their  present  condition  obliges 
them  frequently  to  change  places.  They  assemble  at  their  villages  in 
May  and  June,  and  plant  and  cultivate  their  small  fields,  averaging 
about  an  acre  to  a  family.  They  own  no  other  domestic  animals  than 


54 

horses  and  clogs,  the  former  of  which  are  not  used  for  draught.  While 
cultivating  their  ground,  their  sustenance  is  chiefly  obtained  by  hunting, 
and  by  digging  the  wild  potatoe  and  other  roots ;  consequently,  they 
are  much  of  their  time  absent  from  their  villages  ever*  at  this  season. 
Their  crops  are  harvested  about  the  commencement  of  frosts  in  au 
tumn;  part  of  their  corn  and  potatoes,  and  perhaps  some  few  farming 
and  cooking  utensils,  are  then  deposited  in  secret  places  in  holes  dug 
in  the  earth.  This  done,  all,  both  male  and  female,  old  and  young, 
move  off  according  to  inclination,  on  their  hunting  excursions.  During 
the  hunting  season  they  move  from  place  to  place,  as  may  be  suggested 
by  the  plenty  of  game  and  the  prospect  of  grass  and  brush  for  their 
horses.  In  the  breaking  up  of  winter,  they  make  sugar  from  the  sugar 
maple,  and,  as  above  remarked,  return  to  their  villages  at  the  season  of 
planting. 

Should  a  missionary  station  himself  in  one  of  their  villages,  and  even 
succeed  in  securing  a  tolerable  congregation  to  hear  religious  and  other 
instructions ;  in  September  or  October  his  people  would  leave  him  alone, 
not  to  see  the  smoke  of  a  single  hut  beside  his  own,  until  the  following 
May  or  June.  Should  he  follow  them  on  their  huntings,  his  labours 
would  often  be  limited  to  a  single  family.  Admitting  that,  during  the 
summer,  some  had  profited  by  his  instructions,  a  sad  deterioration  might 
be  expected  on  their  return  the  following  spring.  These  remarks  are 
not  intended  to  apply  to  the  southern  tribes,  but  to  those  on  the  north 
and  west. 

The  first  consideration,  therefore,  with  those  who  embark  in  the  work 
of  Indian  improvement  is,  by  what  means  they  may  be  rendered  sta 
tionary.  It  is  at  once  obvious  that  to  effect  this,  they  must  be  induced 
to  adopt  habits  of  industry,  must  cultivate  the  ground  on  a  larger  scale, 
keep  domestic  animals  and  employ  them  for  servile  purposes,  and  con 
sequently  must  inclose  their  fields  with  fences.  In  prospect  of  the  wants 
of  their  future  improved  condition,  the  youths  of  both  sexes  must  be  in 
structed  in  letters,  and,  as  a  matter  inseparably  connected  with  both 
their  present  and  eternal  welfare,  religious  instruction  should  be  im 
parted  to  the  greatest  possible  extent.  But  we  cannot  hope  for  much 
progress  in  literature  or  religion,  until  they  become  so  situated  as  to 
make  it  possible  for  them  to  attend  to  the  means  which  Heaven  has 
ordained  should  be  employed  for  improvement  in  these  things. 

Every  missionary  station,  therefore,  that  it  may  be  efficient,  must  add 
to  its  religious  advantages  a  school  for  instruction  in  letters,  and  it  must 
become  a  working  institution,  Females  must  be  taught  to  use  the  spin 
ning-wheel  and  needle,  and  to  perform  all  kinds  of  domestic  labour; 
and  the  males  must  be  instructed  in  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts. 
These  encouragements  to  labour  must  be  extended  beyond  the  precincts 
of  the  schools,  to  the  surrounding  country,  and  all,  as  far  as  practicable, 
and  circumstances  shall  suggest,  be  encouraged  to  similar  habits  of  in 
dustry. 

It  will  readily  be  perceived  that  a  missionary  to  such  a  people  as 
these,  has  work  before  him  of  a  very  different  character  from  what  would 
have  been  the  case  had  he  settled  in  Hindostan,  and  I  still  say,  without 
fear  of  contradiction,  many  degrees  more  perplexing.  We  mean  no  de 
traction  from  the  well-earned  honours  of  the  many  worthy  missionaries 
who  have  laboured,  or  are  labouring  in  other  lands,  by  a  comparison  of 
Indian  missions  with  theirs.  Many,  very  many,  we  rejoice  to  know, 


55 

have  ascended  as  nearly  above  the  benefits  of  praise  and  the  harm  of 
slander,  as  is  possible  for  frail  man  to  rise.  We  make  the  comparison 
merely  for  the  illustration  of  our  subject,  that  we  may  understand  the 
condition  of  the  people  for  whom  we  labour,  and  be  able  to  judge  how 
to  labour  for  them  successfully. 

Compared  with  those  in  foreign  lands,  our  missionary  fields  are  con 
tiguous  to  our  native  places.  Nevertheless,  a  greater  proportion  of  mis 
sionaries  have  been  disappointed  in  the  nature  of  their  labours,  on  en 
tering  upon  them  in  the  Indian  country,  than  of  those  who  have  gone 
to  distant  countries.  This  must  have  been  merely  because  they  neglected 
to  consider  the  peculiar  condition  of  this  people.  That  those  disap 
pointments  have  occurred,  is  evident  from  the  many  secessions  from  mis 
sionary  labour  among  us. 

Missionaries  should  be  habitually  industrious.  If  naturally  or  arti 
ficially  tempered  for  indolence,  they  may  be  prompted  by  zeal  to  bestir 
themselves  for  a  few  months,  but  as  the  circumstances  of  their  situation 
become  familiar,  industry  will  become  irksome.  Without  industry,  a 
missionary  would  be  worse  than  nobody.  Indians  are  remarkable  for 
their  indolence  in  every  respect.  Labour,  especially  of  the  men,  is 
deemed  disreputable.  These  impressions  are  unhappily  cherished  by 
the  manners  of  Indian  traders  in  the  countries  through  which  they  are 
scattered.  The  hirelings  in  this  service  are  almost  invariably  taken  from 
Canada,  and  are  of  a  class  of  people  obviously  enough,  even  to  the  In 
dians,  exceedingly  ignoble.  Clerks  and  principals  in  the  trade,  make 
as  great  distinctions,  in  their  intercourse  with  them,  as  usually  exists 
between  a  negro  slave  and  his  master.  The  Indians,  perceiving  that 
the  labour  among  the  whites  who  mingle  with  them  is  performed  by  me 
nials,  are  additionally  confirmed  in  their  own  views.  The  impressions 
cherished  by  these  examples  have  given  the  missionaries,  in  some 
places,  much  vexation.  The  case  might  be  somewhat  different,  could 
theyi  avail  themselves  of  the  services  of  servants,  as  some  of  those  to 
the  south  have  done. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  to  an  Indian,  you  ought  to  labour,  and  be  pro 
vident  and  industrious  in  all  your  business.  We  must  set  the  example. 

We  admit  that  a  missionary  would  be  but  poorly  employed,  were  he 
to  labour  regularly  in  the  field  or  the  shop,  except  in  cases  where  men 
would  have  the  noble  self-denial  to  do  it  from  choice.  Most  of  them 
could  be  otherwise  employed  more  usefully.  Manual  labour  may  be 
chiefly  hired.  Nevertheless,  he  should  show  himself  not  too  good  to 
take  hold,  on  any  business  which  it  was  necessary  to  teach  the  natives. 
This  he  may  do  without  becoming  a  day-labourer.  He  should  be  in 
dustrious,  let  his  employments  be  what  they  might.  These  remarks 
apply  with  equal  propriety  to  the  female  department  of  missions. 

Again,  there  is  a  promptitude  in  business  essential  to  usefulness  in  a 
missionary,  which  we  can  never  bring  some  persons  to  observe.  Each 
item  in  the  routine  of  business  should  be  attended  to  precisely  at  the 
proper  time ;  by  this  means  we  find  time  for  every  thing.  But  one  in 
clined  to  indolence  will  always  be  in  the  rear,  and  will  find  time  for  no 
thing. 

A  missionary  to  another  country,  on  arriving  at  the  field  of  his  la 
bours,  enters  upon  the  study  of  the  language  of  his  people,  and  upon 
the  translating  of  the  scriptures.  As  he  proceeds  in  either,  he  sallies 
forth  to  tell  the  news  of  salvation  to  the  perishing  heathen  around  him ; 


56 

to  circulate  tracts ;  &c.  Servants  can  be  obtained  to  attend  to  domes 
tic  concerns.  In  the  establishing  of  schools  it  is  not  necessary  to  bring 
the  pupils  into  his  family,  and  to  impose  on  himself  the  charge  of  in 
structing,  managing,  feeding,  clothing,  and  lodging  them,  as  so  many 
of  his  own  children.  If  under  these  circumstances,  he  is  subjected  to 
trials,  which  often  are  sore  enough,  such  is  the  structure  of  the  human 
mind,  when  under  the  influence  of  grace,  that  his  business  of  all  others 
is  best  calculated  to  sustain  him.  Being  constantly  engaged  in  labours 
which  are  immediately  of  a  missionary  character,  and  congenial  to  the 
desires  of  his  soul  ever  since  he  left  his  native  land,  the  fire  of  holy  be 
nevolence  is  kept  burning  in  his  bosom. 

The  missionary  to  the  aborigines  of  our  country  leaves  his  place  and 
society  with  the  same  heaven-born  desire  to  point  the  benighted  Indian 
to  the  path  of  virtue,  and  to  guide  him  in  the  way  to  heaven.  Relin 
quishing  his  business  in  life,  and  consecrating  himself  to  labours  for  the 
benefit  of  others,  without  the  hope  of  any  earthly  reward,  beyond  food 
and  raiment,  or  in  other  words,  the  indispensable  necessaries  of  life,  he 
fancies  himself  to  be  quitting  the  busy,  perplexing  spheres  of  the  world, 
and  to  be  entering  upon  a  scene  of  labours  which  will  perpetually  ac 
cord  with  the  pious  breathings  of  his  soul.  He,  to  be  sure,  expects  to 
encounter  many  privations  and  hardships,  but  these  he  hopes  to  bear 
with  cheerfulness,  on  account  of  the  pleasure  realized  in  the  nature  of 
his  work. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  field  of  his  labours  he  applies  himself  to  the 
study  of  the  language  of  the  natives.  He  finds  himself  among  a  people 
totally  ignorant  of  letters.  Here  are  no  books  for  his  assistance ;  and 
twenty  chances  to  one  if  he  finds  a  person  tolerably  well  qualified  for 
even  a  common  interpreter,  much  less  one  who  has  an  idea  of  the  sci 
ence  of  language.  He  is  forced  to  pick  up  the  language  as  he  can  find 
it.  He  is  denied  the  pleasure  of  translating,  and  of  circulating  portions 
of  the  scriptures,  and  other  tracts,  for  his  people  have  no  knowledge 
of  letters.  He  proceeds  to  preach  to  them,  but  more  than  half  the  year 
they  are  wandering,  partly  in  separate  families ;  and  during  the  season 
when  most  about  their  villages,  he  will  frequently  have  the  grief  to  hear 
that  half  his  congregation  are  absent,  procuring  roots  and  weeds  to 
satisfy  the  cravings  of  hunger.  Ardent  spirits  are  distributed  to  them 
all  over  their  country,  and  not  one  of  a  hundred  of  either  sex  is  not  in 
clined  to  use  them  intemperately.  This  is  a  sickening  evil  to  be  met 
with  wherever  he  goes,  but  is  most  prevalent  during  the  season  that  they 
inhabit  their  villages.  With  all  these  discouragements,  his  faith  and 
resolution  might  not  fail  him,  even  when  mingling  with  his  people  in 
their  filthy  camps,  and  impelled  by  necessity  to  partake  of  their  homely 
cookery,  could  he  be  allowed  to  give  his  undivided  attention  to  these 
labours,  which  in  themselves  are  calculated  to  inspire  zeal.  But  he  is 
not  so  fortunate.  He  must  turn  his  attention  to  agriculture  and  to  the 
management  of  a  farm,  stocked  with  domestic  animals,  for  the  sake  of 
teaching  the  same  to  the  people  of  his  charge.  He  must  become  the 
superintendent  of  shops  in  which  are  taught  mechanic  arts.  Most  per 
sons  with  ordinary  families  of  their  own  children,  in  situations  where 
faithful  servants  cannot  be  employed,  deem  their  task  in  providing  them 
with  food,  raiment,  lodgings,  attendance  in  sickness,  and  instruction  in 
letters,  labour,  and  morals,  far  from  light.  But  the  missionary  has 
added  to  the  number  of  dependants  on  his  care  ten  or  fifteen  fold,  and 


57 

these  additions  are  wild  from  the  woods,  unaccustomed  to  parental  re 
straints,  and  from  the  midst  of  a  people  among  whom  are  commonly 
practised  every  thing  wrong  of  which  their  state  is  susceptible,  from  the 
vilest  murders  to  the  least  offensive  sins. 

Even  all  this  could  be  borne,  could  he  properly  keep  alive  the  Mission 
ary  ardour  of  his  soul,  which  invited  him  into  this  land  of  darkness. 
But  the  cares  and  ^perplexities  of  the  world  produce  a  similar  effect  on 
the  mind,  whether  in  a  civilized,  or  a  savage  land.  His  secular  anxie 
ties  abate  the  ardour  of  holy  benevolence,  and  tend  to  banish  all  com 
fortable  religious  desires  and  enjoyments,  much  the  same  as  similar 
cares  would  have  done  in  his  native  land,  and  under  different  circum 
stances.  "  Alas!"  he  says  to  himself,  "  I  had  thought  of  retiring  from 
the  vexation  of  worldly  engagements,  and  of  devoting  myself  to  exer 
cises  purely  religious,  instead  of  which  I  find  myself  tenfold  deeper  in 
secular  perplexities  than  before  I  came  hither." 

I  say  again,  that  my  observations  apply  also  to  the  female  department, 
with  this  difference,  that  every  perplexity  which  the  case  involves  falls 
with  doubled  discouragement  upon  female  missionaries.  With  them 
there  is  less  variety  in  business,  and  necessarily  less  of  those  services 
immediately  of  a  missionary  character,  desirable  to  all,  and  in  them 
selves  calculated  to  cherish  zeal. 

In  these  remarks  I  am  carefully  avoiding  exaggeration.  I  am  sober 
ly  stating  facts,  and  which  exist  around  the  place  where  I  write,  and  at 
many  other  missionary  stations.  The  business  of  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians  is  calculated  to  unnerve  the  constitution,  and  to  press  down  into 
melancholy  the  finest  flow  of  spirits. 

A  missionary  in  this  country  should  possess  a  tact  for  being  a  man  of 
business.  There  are  some  men  who  can  scarcely  provide  for  themselves 
and  families  a  living,  in  the  best  of  times.  Such  men  are  poorly  qual 
ified  to  teach  others  economy  and  management  in  the  concerns  of  com 
mon  life.  A  few  such  persons  might  be  of  some  service,  should  they 
be  of  a  condescending  disposition,  and  always  ready  to  be  instructed  by 
others.  This,  however,  rarely  happens.  Too  often,  in  every  place, 
men  are  ignorant  of  their  want  of  qualification  for  business,  until  they 
ruin  themselves  and  others  by  their  bad  management. 

Indians  are  men  of  nature,  possessing  strong  mental  abilities.  Few 
people  more  readily  perceive  when  they  are  in  company  of  a  novice,  or 
a  man  of  slender  mind,  or  more  certainly  feel  contempt  for  such.  I  hope 
my  fellow-missionaries  will  allow  a  remark,  which  might  be  esteemed 
indecorous  in  me  were  I  not  one  of  their  number,  and  alike  exposed 
to  its  application.  A  mistake,  not  a  little  prejudicial  to  our  cause,  has 
too  extensively  prevailed,  that  a  man  of  very  ordinary  abilities  would 
answer  for  a  missionary  to  uncultivated  savages.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
time  is  not  distant  when  the  condition  of  the  Indians  being  understood, 
the  fact  will  be  admitted,  that  their  reformation  is  opposed  by  greater 
and  more  threatening  obstacles  than  any  other  heathen  people  on  earth, 
and  that  consequently  missions  in  no  other  country  equally  require  men 
of  talents  and  business.  A  missionary  should  be  a  man  acquainted  with 
human  nature,  attaching  dignity  to  his  deportment,  and  commanding 
respect  from  all  with  whom  he  mingles.  He  should  possess  energy  of 
mind  and  be  in  the  habit  of  governing  his  conduct  by  reason,  and  not 
by  the  impulse  of  feeling.  I  hardly  need  add  that  every  acquirement 
will  fail,  should  there  be  an  absence  of  religious  devotion. 

8 


58 

Some  of  our  observations  will  not  apply  with  equal  weight  to  the 
southern  Indians ;  and  to  others  to  the  north,  on  small  tracts  of  country 
surrounded  by  white  population ;  these  being  generally  stationary.  But 
while  the  school  and  working  system  is  not  equally  demanded  by  their 
circumstances,  it  is  fully  believed  to  be  the  only  efficient  mode  of  mis 
sionary  operations  among  Indians  of  every  tribe.  It  is  true,  many  of 
those  Indians  are  able  and  willing  to  give  their  children  education,  but 
so  unfortunate  is  their  situation  in  general,  that  it  cannot  be  expected 
that  the  rising  generation  will  receive  those  impressions  essential  to  their 
subsequent  usefulness,  unless  admitted  to  the  advantages  of  missionary 
schools  as  commonly  conducted. 

To  me  it  appears  obvious  that  the  school  and  working  system  cannot 
be  abandoned  without  endangering  success;  especially  so,  since  our 
hopes  in  relation  to  these  people  principally  rest  upon  the  rising  gene 
ration.  We  all  admit  that  religious  instruction  is  indispensable,  and  we 
rejoice  in  the  success  which  has  attended  it.  But  the  Author  of  our 
holy  religion  has  appointed  other  means  for  its  promotion,  besides  that 
of  preaching.  We  see  that  in  the  United  States  religion  flourishes 
most  where  society  in  general  is  best  organized.  There  was  a  time 
when  Catholic  missionaries,  in  accordance  with  the  too  prevalent  opinion 
of  the  day,  scoured  the  regions  of  our  lakes  on  the  north,  and  made 
thousands  of  proselytes  to  their  religion,  but  the  condition  of  the  In 
dians  was  not  perceivably  improved.  I  know  it  will  be  said  that  they 
were  proselyted  to  forms  merely;  but  admitting  many  of  them  to  have 
been  genuinely  pious,  what  effect  could  that  fact  have  produced  on  the 
manners  of  the  country  7  It  is  not  sinful  to  live  in  tents  and  bark  huts, 
and  to  procure  subsistence  chiefly  by  the  chase;  or  to  appear  in  the  In 
dian  costume.  An  Indian  may  be  strictly  pious,  and  yet  pursue  his  na 
tive  mode  of  living,  without  incurring  the  slightest  censure.  There  is 
at  this  moment  a  living  instance  by  my  side.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot 
expect  vital  piety  to  abound  while  the  state  of  society,  if  society  we  may 
call  it,  is  as  it  is  known  to  be  among  the  Indians.  I  include  them  all, 
those  who  are  more,  as  well  as  those  who  are  less  favourably  situated. 

In  the  colony,  some  variation  from  the  school  and  working  system 
may  be  expected ;  but  this  will  occur  with  safety,  merely  in  proportion 
to  the  improved  situation  of  the  people.  We  must  carry  our  present 
mode  of  operations  into  the  Indian  territory,  but  happily  we  shall  do  it 
under  the  impression  that  it  will  in  time  assume  the  attitude  of  the  free 
school  systems  of  New-England,  embracing  schools  of  the  higher  order. 
At  the  arrival  of  this  period,  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  need  not  be 
blended  with  education,  &c.  as  it  now  is,  but  may  be  provided  for  in  the 
usual  way. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  we  do  not  distinguish  between  missionaries 
who  are  preachers,  and  those  who  are  not.  It  would  be  well  for  every 
missionary  station  to  be  supplied  with  one  minister  or  more,  that  the 
forms  of  their  churches  might  be  properly  attended  to.  But  in  the 
matter  of  instructing  Indians  in  religion,  as  well  as  in  every  thing  else, 
a  man  who  is  not  a  minister  of  the  gospel  may  be  as  successful  as  he 
who  is.  When  the  Indians  become  settled  and  civilized,  as  the  whites 
are  in  our  states,  ministers  may  be  located  among  them  upon  the  same 
principle  that  they  now  are  among  us.  In  the  present  state  of  affairs, 
we  deem  it  inexpedient  for  missionaries  who  are  ministers,  to  be  re 
quired  to  attend  merely  on  parochial  duties.  It  would  be  ungenerous 


59 

in  them  to  ask  such  a  privilege.  Imparting  religious  instruction  is  the 
most  pleasant  part  of  the  whole  routine  of  labour.  It  is  at  the  same 
time  both  profitable  and  encouraging  to  the  instructor.  It  is  a  privilege, 
and  not  a  task — a  privilege  which  all  in  their  proper  spheres  should  en 
joy.  I  am  always  grieved  to  hear  societies  report  distinctions  between 
missionaries,  (meaning  ordained  ministers,)  and  assistants,  school-teach 
ers,  farmers,  mechanics,  &c. ;  such  statements  are  a  disparagement  of 
the  latter,  who  deserve  equally  with  the  former.  If  the  minister  has  not 
both  capacity  and  disposition  to  be  either  a  book-keeper,  school-teacher, 
farmer,  or  mechanic,  or  a  business-man  in  some  line,  I  fully  believe  he 
does  not  possess  the  requisite  qualifications  of  a  missionary  to  the  In 
dians. 


No.  III. 

Address  to  Missionary  Societies,  on  the  relation  between  them  and  their 

Missionaries.  % 

THERE  are  two  evil  propensities  common  to  the  human  family,  against 
which  societies  should  carefully  guard  in  the  choice  of  their  missionaries, 
viz.  indolence  and  avarice  ;  the  former  we  noticed  in  our  last  number. 
Avarice  grows  up  with  us  from  infancy,  and  often  overgrows  us  in  riper 
years.  It  is  difficult  for  one  whose  first  impressions  received  from  his 
parents  were,  that  he  was  qualifying  for  business  for  the  sake  of  acquir 
ing  property,  to  understand  what  is  meant  by  disinterested  benevolence  ; 
still  more  difficult  is  it  for  him  to  become  disinterestedly  benevolent.  Yet 
such  he  must  be,  or  not  be  employed  as  a  missionary. 

The  first  step  in  guarding  this  point  is  to  allow  missionaries  no  com 
pensation  for  their  services.  Should  you  offer  your  missionaries  pay, — 
a  sum  of  money  as  their  own,  which  they  would  be  at  liberty  to  add  to 
their  own  private  property,  this  business,  like  all  others,  would  assume, 
in  many  instances,  a  mercenary  character.  It  will  be  said,  let  the  com 
pensation  be  very  moderate.  Light  wages  would  not  be  the  least  safe 
guard.  You  can  find  as  ready  market  for  offices  with  small  salaries  as 
you  can  for  those  with  higher.  There  are  usually  more  candidates  for 
a  petty  office  in  a  county,  than  there  would  be  in  proportion  for  a  seat 
in  Congress. 

It  may  be  asked  why  may  we  not  settle  on  a  missionary  a  specific 
salary,  in  the  same  way  that  we  do  on  a  minister  of  the  gospel  in  one 
of  our  churches'?  I  answer,  1st,  for  this  plain  reason  ;  your  minister  is 
constantly  near  you,  and  his  labours  such  as  can  be  defined.  When 
any  dissatisfaction  occurs,  you  know  how  to  dismiss  him,  and  employ 
another.  The  case  assumes  a  different  countenance  when  you  hire  a 
man  and  send  him  a  thousand  miles  from  you  into  a  wilderness,  to  do  a 
work  which  you  do  not  veiy  well  understand  yourselves,  but  a  small  part 
of  which  is  really  of  parochial  character.  You  intend  to  guard  this 
affair  by  prescribing  rules  for  his  conduct,  a  departure  from  which 
will  incur  your  censure,  and  procure  his  dismissal.  Theory  should 
always  be  founded  on  fact.  Now  it  is  a  fact,  that  government  has  never 


60 

been  able  to  enforce  the  observance  of  their  righteous  rules  and  regula 
tions  relative  to  the  intercourse  of  whites  with  the  Indians.  We  admit 
that  in  the  Indian  territory  these  difficulties  as  they  relate  to  government 
will  be  lessened ;  but  even  there  they  cannot,  in  a  short  time,  be  wholly 
prevented. 

2.  The  case  is  one  of  peculiar  character,  which  requires  the  exercise 
of  the  whole  man.  A  man  is  drowning ;  you  prevail  on  a  broker,  whoso 
hands  at  the  moment  are  filled  with  bills,  to  quit  his  counter  and  plunge 
into  the  water  for  his  relief.  At  the  same  time  you  advise  him  to  hold 
on  to  his  money  with  one  hand  while  he  employs  the  other  for  the  relief 
of  the  sufferer  !  When  a  man  has  pay  coming  to  him  for  his  services, 
some  attention  must  be  bestowed  upon  the  management  of  it,  and  so 
much  of  his  time  and  attention  are  necessarily  diverted  from  the  matter 
which  imperiously  requires  the  whole  of  both.  Large  salaries  would 
vitiate  the  better  feelings  of  the  heart,  and  require,  and  engross  consi 
derable  time  in  the  disposition  of  them.  The  effects  of  small  salaries 
would  be  little  less  objectionable.  If  you  pay  them  little  salaries,  your 
missionaries  who  can  accept  them  will  be  men  of  little  minds,  proud  of 
a  tittle  money,  and  will  require  much  time  to  do  but  little  business. 
What  more  effectual  method  could  be  taken  to  induce  men  to  neglect 
the  interests  of  others  and  attend  to  their  own,  than  to  be  perpetually 
giving  them  business  of  their  own  to  attend  to? 

When  you  make  the  comparison  between  a  settled  minister  in  one  of 
your  churches,  and  a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  you  seem  to  lose  sight 
of  what  must  be  the  peculiar  privations  of  the  latter,  provided  he  be 
faithful  and  efficient.  If  he  is  a  man  who,  while  he  wishes  to  lay  by 
for  himself,  will  be  content  with  small  wages,  I  suppose  him  to  be  poor 
ly  qualified  for  a  missionary.  One  whose  abilities  will  secure  him  a 
handsome  income  elsewhere,  if  salary  be  a  sine  qua  non  with  him,  will 
not  enter  your  service.  The  man  whom  you  ought  to  employ  is  capa 
ble  of  making  a  living,  and  of  securing  a  good  business  in  any  place 
where  others  can.  Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  man,  quitting  a 
profitable  business,  and  agreeable  society,  and  subjecting  himself  to  the 
vexations  and  privations  of  a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  would  accept 
the  petty  consideration  of  a  few  hundred  dollars  a  year  as  compensation 
for  his  services ! 

It  has  always  grieved  missionaries  to  hear  it  suggested  that  they  ought 
to  be  put  upon  salaries  for  their  services,  for  the  same  reason  that  an 
honourable  man  would  be  grieved  were  I  to  offer  him  compensation  for 
his  encountering  the  inconvenience  of  cold,  wet,  and  mud,  in  assisting 
me  to  adjust  my  carriage  which  had  been  upset  in  the  public  highway.  A 
genuine  missionary  is  prepared  to  say  that  he  would  not  be  hired  to  do 
what  he  does,  and  to  bear  the  privations  and  perplexities  of  his  situa 
tion.  But  there  are  men  whom  you  can  hire  to  enter  upon  this,  or  any 
other  service,  and  you  can  hire  a  supply  with  either  hiirh  wages  or  low, 
as  you  may  choose  to  offer.  The  seats  in  Congress  hall  could  as  readily 
be  filled  at  two  dollars  a  day  as  at  eight.  When  therefore  you  suggest 
wages  to  a  missionary,  he  says  you  are  either  ignorant  of  his  situation, 
or  you  have  a  contemptible  opinion  of  his  motives  and  abilities  ;  or 
perhaps  both. 

How  is  it  possible  for  you  to  secure  prompt  attention  to  the  unpleasant 
parts  of  missionary  labour,  when  they  are  so  far  from  you,  and  v/hile 
«ach  has  his  separate  private  business  to  attend  in  conjunction  with  yours. 


61 

He  can  observe  every  rule  that  you  can  prescribe,  and  entirely  escape 
censure  ;  and  yet  be  in  reality  totally  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Indians,  and  worse  than  useless.  This  is  now,  and  always  has  been 
the  case  with  too  many  in  the  employ  of  Government.  Matters  that 
you  can  mark  out,  are  for  the  most  part  such  as  will  afford  a  vain  man 
an  opportunity  of  puffing.  This  kind  of  business,  or  the  appearance  of 
it,  you  can  readily  enough  hire  a  man  to  perform.  But  the  chief  ex 
cellence  of  a  missionary  consists  in  voluntarily  doing,  and  enduring 
things  not  to  be  explained  in  public  journals  ;  feeling  anxieties,  and 
performing  services  of  the  most  unwelcome  character,  and  which  he  is 
sure  will  never  be  understood  by  any  beside  himself  and  his  God.  He 
labours  solely  from  the  principle  of  doing  good.  He  regards  neither 
money  nor  reputation,  and  sacrifices  convenience,  and  even  life.  I  be 
lieve  that  some  of  the  most  worthy  missionaries  (among  these  are  a  re 
spectable  number  of  females)  have  seldom  appeared  <before  the  public. 
They  have  toiled  in  obscurity,  without  complaint,  until,  in  too  many  in 
stances,  health  and  spirits  have  greatly  declined  ;  not  expecting  or  desir 
ing  that  what  they  did  and  endured,  should  ever  be  told  to  others  to  solicit 
their  sympathies,  or  their  praise.  And  will  you  mock  the  sufferings  of 
such  by  asking  them  to  accept  of  a  few  hundred  dollars  as  compensa 
tion  for  their  services  !  How  would  you  go  about  hiring  the  unobtrusive 
Judson  to  risk  the  horrors  of  another  nineteen  month's  imprisonment  in 
Burmah,  and  a  recurrence  of  his  untold  sorrows  in  relation  to  his  de 
parted  wife  and  child !  Or  how  would  you  apologize  for  the  insult, 
were  you  to  offer  to  pay  him  for  the  past ! 

While  upon  this  topic  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  explain  our  views  more 
at  large.  We  are  pleased  with  regulations  adopted  inform  by  some,  and 
in  principlet  we  trust,  by  all  now  employed  in  this  service.  They  agree 
to  care  for  each  other,  and  to  provide  for  orphans  and  widows.  Food, 
raiment,  medicine,  and  the  education  of  their  children,  are  indispensa 
ble  considerations  in  life.  These  they  will  secure  if  it  can  be  done.  In 
the  event  of  incompetency  of  either,  they  would  submit  to  the  priva 
tion.  Beyond  these  they  seek  nothing  either  for  themselves  or  their 
families.  Further,  whatever  they  may  obtain  by  personal  service  ren 
dered  Government,  &c.  while  in  the  discharge  of  missionary  duties,  be 
the  same  either  less  or  more,  they  throw  into  the  common  missionary 
fund.  Some  of  them  receive  salaries  from  Government  of  several  hun 
dred  dollars,  per  annum,  for  agencies ;  the  services  of  which  are  exactly 
such  as  their  societies  require  of  them,  and  which  sums  they  could  as 
properly  claim  as  their  own  private  property  as  do  any  other  agents  of 
Government ;  but  which,  to  the  last  cent,  is  thrown  into  the  common 
treasury,  to  be  applied  to  the  common  objects  of  the  mission.  They 
would  imitate  the  disinterested  Judson,  who  received  from  the  British  au 
thorities  about  $1300,  for  a  tour  to  Ava  to  serve  as  interpreter,  and  who, 
on  his  return,  entered  the  whole  on  the  books  to  the  credit  of  the  society 
he  served.  Let  such  be  the  relation  between  you  and  your  missionaries 
to  the  Indians,  and  none  will  enter  your  service  for  the  sake  of  money, 
or  who  having  entered,  will  go  with  Demas  after  it. 

After  all,  there  may  exist  peculiar  cases  in  which  it  would  be  proper 
for  a  missionary  to  live  more  singly,  and  provide  for  himself  more  sepa 
rately,  than  the  foregoing  observations  allow.  Further,  a  mission 
among  the  southern  Indians,  who  are  comparatively  civilized,  will  bear 
a  greater  departure  from  the  rules  we  have  laid  down,  than  those  among 


62 

uncultivated  tribes.  But,  admissible  variations,  in  the  territory  or  else 
where,  will  be  either  extraordinary  cases,  or  the  result  of  improvement 
in  the  condition  of  the  Indians,  and  consequently  of  the  condition  of 
the  missionaries. 

When  missionaries  are  so  situated  that  a  monthly,  quarterly,  or  annual 
allowance  can  be  so  regulated  as  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  year,  let 
them  be  thus  allowanced.  Some  stations  necessarily  involve  greater 
contingencies  in  expenditures  than  others.  But  in  general,  a  tolerably 
correct  calculation  for  expenditures  of  a  subsequent  year,  may  be  made 
by  reference  to  those  of  the  preceding.  Let  appropriations  be  made 
accordingly.  Missionaries  render  to  their  societies  regular  accounts  of 
receipts  and  disbursements.  When  there  is  a  surplus  of  the  past  year, 
it  is  of  course  placed  to  account  of  the  next,  and  if  a  deficiency,  it 
should  be  supplied. 

In  the  relation  between  missionaries  and  the  societies  they  serve,  I 
suppose  there  has  not,  in  any  thing,  been  so  great  an  omission  of  right 
regulations,  as  in  regard  to  the  children  of  the  former.  The  anxieties 
of  parents  in  this  case,  are  among  their  sorest  trials.  In  most  other 
heathen  lands  the  children  of  missionaries  may,  in  a  degree,  be  kept 
apart  from  those  of  the  natives.  Among  the  Indians  it  is  otherwise. 
The  condition  of  these  people  renders  it  necessary  to  bring  their  children 
into  our  families,  not  in  the  capacity  of  servants,  because  this  course 
would  leave  them  still  below  mediocrity  among  men.  Our  aim  is  to 
elevate  the  Indian  character.  Their  youths  therefore  must  be  taught 
not  to  consider  themselves  menials,  but  to  feel  prudently  ambitious. 
They  must  be  treated  as  our  own  children,  or  as  the  children  of  a  friend 
committed  to  our  care.  Hence  our  own  children  must  mingle  with 
them,  learn  their  language,  and  see  and  hear  their  vices.  It  is  desirable 
to  parents  that  the  first  impressions  which  their  children  receive,  should 
be  right  ones  ;  but  in  this  case,  the  preponderance  of  example  is  twenty 
fold  on  the  undesirable  side.  In  the  solitude  of  their  situation,  the  en 
joyment  of  the  society  of  their  children  would  be  deemed  a  peculiar 
privilege,  but  this  favour  can  be  but  partially  realized.  It  requires  no 
argument  to  show  that  these  children  ought  to  spend  a  portion  of  their 
time  in  society  different  from  that  existing  in  the  Indian  country.  The 
parents  employ  their  whole  time  and  attention  in  the  field  of  their  la 
bours.  On  this,  and  many  other  accounts,  the  matter  of  providing  for 
the  education  of  their  children,  necessarily  devolves  on  the  societies. 
I  once  thought  of  offering  some  further  reasons  for  the  course  I  here 
mention,  but  on  reflection,  the  case  appears  too  plain  to  allow  an  argu 
ment,  without  an  intrusion  on  common  sense  and  humanity. 

Every  thing  which  relates  to  property  with  your  missionaries,  you 
ought  to  keep  securely  in  your  own  hands  ;  but  many  things  respecting 
management,  you  must  of  necessity  submit  to  their  judgment.  You 
should  retain  your  authority,  but  the  means  of  information  not  being 
alike  within  your  reach  and  theirs,  much  must  be  delegated  to  their  dis 
cretion.  This  would  be  unsafe  were  they  hirelings.  Their  business 
would  be  to  follow  your  directions,  and  when  you  were  obliged  to  leave 
£hem  to  direct  themselves,  they  would  most  likely  be  directed  by  interest 
and  ease,  if  these  were  involved  in  the  question,  since  to  lay  by  for  them 
selves  a  little  money  would  be  a  part  of  their  business  at  their  stations.  But 
there  is  little  danger  in  committing  business  to  the  care  of  those  who 
work  from  principle,  if  they  are  competent  in  judgment.  They  have 


63 

invested  in  the  enterprise  their  entire  services.  Many  of  them  are  ena 
bled  by  personal  efforts  to  secure  to  purposes  of  their  missions  large 
sums  of  money,  every  cent  of  which  is  applied  to  the  common  cause,  and 
accounted  for  to  the  societies.  I  am  acquainted  with  one  mission  in 
which  the  missionaries"  have  by  personal  exertion  and  management,  se 
cured  to  purposes  of  the  same,  considerably  more  than  the  society  which 
'patronizes  it.  We  may  safely  conclude  that  they  who  evince  such  a 
disposition,  desire  the  accomplishment  of  the  work  they  have  undertaken, 
and  for  it  will  employ  their  best  judgments  and  task  their  abilities  to  the 
utmost. 

Societies  and  their  missionaries  should  carefully  guard  against  what 
we  might  term  high  colouring.  We  are  naturally  fond  of  telling  the 
more  favourable  parts  of  the  story,  and  rather  desire  the  unfavourable 
parts  to  sink  into  oblivion.  I  could  readily  point  to  statements  respec 
ting  missionary  operations,  which  approximate  this  character  too  nearly. 
But  I  deem  it  sufficient  to  mention  only  this  general  and  undoubted  fact, 
viz.  a  man  in  Europe  by  reading  the  whole  of  our  missionary  journals, 
narratives,  reports,  &c.  would  be  apt  to  suppose  the  success  of  our  la 
bours  was  such  that  the  aborigines  of  our  country  were  rapidly  improv 
ing  their  condition,  both  in  respect  to  Christianity  and  civilization. 
How  would  such  an  one  be  disappointed  on  visiting  these  regions,  to  find 
that  instead  of  improvement  in  general,  they  were  rapidly  decreasing  in 
numbers,  and  perishing  under  their  accumulating  misfortunes. 

Both  societies  and  missionaries  are  blameable  in  this  thing.  The  lat 
ter  claim  a  pretext  from  the  peculiarities  of  their  situation.  The  views 
of  the  community  in  general,  in  relation  to  the  true  condition  of  the  In 
dians,  their  character,  and  the  character  of  missionary  labours  among 
them,  being  erroneous,  missionaries  find  great  difficulty  in  managing 
those  impressions,  which  influence  their  patrons  as  well  as  6ther  people. 
Few  indeed  are  prepared  for  that  tedious  process  which  is  usually  un 
avoidable  in  the  work.  If  a  missionary  is  not  able  to  state  a  tolerable 
degree  of  what  would  be  deemed  by  his  patrons  evidence  of  success,  and 
in  a  pretty  short  time  too  after  he  has  commenced  his  labours,  his  sup 
porters  are  liable  to  grow  impatient,  and  to  imagine  the  existence  of 
some  defect  in  him  or  his  management.  A  few  years  ago  a  solitary 
missionary  and  his  wife  commenced  a  station  in  the  wilderness,  among 
entirely  unimproved  Indians.  Aside  from  their  destitution  of  associates, 
their  situation  combined  many  inauspicious  circumstances  which  tended 
to  retard  and  render  difficult  their  labours.  Aware  of  the  danger  of  im 
patience  on  the  part  of  the  society,  they  made  extraordinary  efforts  to 
get  something  positively  in  operation  which  would  satisfy  them.  In  the 
course  of  about  a  year  they  collected  a  school  of  ten  or  eleven  Indian 
scholars.  This,  connected  with  their  other  doings,  they  considered,  un 
der  their  peculiar  circumstances,  remarkable  success.  Great  were  their 
disappointment  and  chagrin  on  receiving  a  letter  from  the  society  they 
served,  far  from  approbatory.  The  society  supposed  the  success  did  not 
bear  a  just  proportion  to  the  time  and  expense  employed. 

As  all  reasonably  suppose  the  frequent  occurrence  of  undesirable 
events,  it  is  not  necessary  to  trouble  the  public  with  minute  details  of 
them.  But  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  give  the  public  such  a  history  of 
affairs,  both  bad  and  good,  as  will  enable  a  reasonable  person  to  form  a 
correct  opinion  of  the  people  of  our  charge.  I  have  no  reason  to  accuse 
any  of  my  missionary  brethren  with  misrepresentation ;  but  there  exists 


64 

such  a  dread  of  the  consequences  of  reporting  plainly  the  discouraging' 
parts  of  our  affairs,  that  the  liberty  of  discretion  in  furnishing  ex 
tracts  from  the  journals,  leaves  untold  for  the  present  many  things  which 
might  induce  others  to  say,  if  this  be  the  case  you  had  better  quit  your 
labours,  and  we  cease  to  expend  money  thereon. 

Reports  of  missionaries  usually  pass  through  the  hands  of  their  so 
cieties,  which  also  sometimes  manifest  a  partiality  for  the  better  parts. 
It  is  exceedingly  unfortunate  for  the  matter  of  Indian  improvement  that 
there  are  so  few,  beside  the  missionaries,  who  are  determined  to  perse 
vere  in  the  work,  even  should  it  appear  that  much  or  even  all,  should 
fail  at  last,  and  are  therefore  prepared  to  meet  openly  the  worst  of  times 
and  prospects.  Men  of  benevolent  feelings,  contributing  to  the  support 
of  missions,  often  permit  their  expectations  to  become  too  sanguine,  and 
make  more  of  occurrences  at  their  stations  than  the  missionaries  in 
tended  or  the  facts  justified.  A  favourable  communication  from  the 
monarch  of  Burmah,  and  the  receipt  of  the  last  idols  of  some  of  our  south 
sea  Islands,  would  be  justly  esteemed  matters  of  joy.  But,  a  message 
to  a  Missionary  Society,  of  an  Indian  chief  expressing  his  high  approba 
tion  of  their  benevolence,  his  intention  to  profit  thereby,  and  his  thank 
fulness  therefor,  and  the  presentation  of  a  war-club,  with  a  declaration  in 
favour  of  peace,  are  matters  worth  little  more  than  the  amusement  af 
forded  us  by  an  acquaintance  with  the  manners  of  these  people.  We 
could  easily  fill  our  pockets  with  papers,  sent  from  Indian  chiefs  to  so 
cieties,  highly  complimentary  of  the  latter,  if  such  a  thing  were  desira 
ble.  The  Indians  delight  in  dictating  and  sending  letters,  and  in  re 
ceiving  them,  but  it  is  usually  merely  a  matter  of  courtesy.  A  man  might 
soon  load  a  horse  with  war-clubs,  tomahawks,  and  scalping  knives,  all 
accompanied  by  complimentary  inscriptions,  and  declarations  of  inten 
tion  to  exchange  them  for  things  less  horrid.  But  this  would  not  amount 
to  evidence  that  they  who  lately  dyed  them  in  blood,  had  become  less 
savage.  All  that  could  be  inferred  with  certainty  from  the  whole  farce 
would  be,  that  they  were  in  good  humour  when  they  directed  the  writing 
of  their  letters,  and  yielded  so  many  of  their  implements  of  war. 

I  hardly  know  whether  I  ought  in  this  or  any  other  place  to  notice  the 
malicious  slanders,  which  have  been  propagated  by  interested  opposers 
of  missions.  They  have  usually  been  so  glaringly  absurd,  as  to  forbid 
credence  with  men  of  sober  minds.  Such  slanders  have  generally 
elicited  inquiries  which  have  resulted  in  the  advantage  of  the  mission 
aries  whom  they  were  intended  to  injure.  In  a  few  instances  Indians 
have  been  made  to  say  things  of  which  they  never  thought,  or,  certainly 
of  which  they  never  thought  until  instructed  what  to  say  by  a  malicious 
white  man.  The  brief  catalogue  of  invective  is  obviously  too  invidious 
to  be  the  mere  fruit  of  savage  tongues. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  they  who  have  from  time  to  time,  given 
us  scraps  of  history  of  Indian  language,  character,  condition,  &c.  have  al- 
lowed|themselves  to  commit  such  egregious  blunders ;  very  little  touching 
these  subjects  has  yet  come  before  the  public  with  tolerable  correctness. 
Inquiries  have  usually  been  made  precipitately,  and  too  much  reliance 
has  been  placed  upon  the  statements  of  negligent,  illiterate,  and  supersti 
tious  white  men,  who  mingle  with  the  Indians.  This  fact  should  have 
been  left  unnoticed  here,  were  it  not  that  the  erroneous  impression  pro 
duced  on  the  public,  has  evidently  a  disadvantageous  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  Indian  improvement. 


65 

Societies,  in  deciding  on  the  usefulness  of  the  labours  of  their  mission 
aries,  should  bear  in  mind  the  circumstances  under  which  they  severally 
labour.  In  some  places  schools  may  be  gathered,  and  other  measures 
put  into  operation  speedily  and  promisingly.  Missionaries  who  happen 
to  be  thus  situated  will  not  lack  support.  Prayers  and  gifts  will  be 
offered  in  abundance.  Others  may  have  far  less  to  tell  of,  and  yet,  con 
sidering  the  obstacles  with  which  they  contend,  be  entitled  to  a  superior 
degree  of  credit;  these,  however,  will  be  likely  to  feel  the  effects  of  back 
wardness  in  the  supporters  of  missions  to  afford  them  encouragement. 
This  mis-judging  of  societies  is  not  an  evil  merely  anticipated ;  it  has 
long  existed,  and  has  left  some  in  want  a  ad  distress  when  they  most 
needed  assistance  and  encouragement. 


No.  IV. 

Address  to  candidates  for  Missionary  service  and  to  Missionaries. 

None  should  become  missionaries  without  endeavouring  thoroughly 
to  count  the  cost.  Candidates  for  this  service  should  ask  themselves  if 
they  are  willing  to  live  and  die  poor1?  To  subject  themselves  to  hunger, 
cold,  fatigue,  and  other  privations  consequent  on  a  residence,  and  on 
journeyings  in  a  wilderness,  and  to  load  their  minds  with  perpetual 
anxieties  ]  And  can  you  pursue  these  toils,  and  bear  these  anxieties, 
when  you  have  reason  to  suppose  none  on  earth  has,  or  ever  will  have 
a  tolerable  idea  of  them,  except  your  missionary  brethren,  and  the  God 
you  serve  1 

On  reading  accounts  of  missionary  operations,  every  Christian  feels 
more  or  less  a  holy  emulation,  because  every  one  feels  something  of  the 
spirit  of  a  missionary,  though  few  are  qualified  to  be  successful  ones. 
You  read  of  the  trials  of  missionaries,  and  feel  a  readiness  to  enter 
upon  similar  ones  in  the^ame  cause.  But  these  things  appear  very  dif 
ferent  to  the  reader  from  what  they  did  to  those  who  realized  them. 
You  read  in  the  heat  of  zeal ;  perhaps  the  actor  had  been  by  attendant 
circumstances  subjected  to  great  darkness  and  discouragement.  At  the 
distance  you  "stand  from  them,  you  may  be  able  to  see  their  connexion 
with  a  happy  issue;  perhaps  he  who  was  the  subject  of  them,  could  not 
thus  trace  them,  but  was  ready  to  conclude  that  all  resulted  from  his 
own  misguided  choice.  You  read  in  confidence  that  the  actors  were 
discharging  their  duty,  and  when  you  anticipate  similar  trials  in  rela 
tion  to  yourself,  you  do  it  upon  the  supposition  that  you  also  would  be 
doing  right,  Now,  if  we  could  always  feel  assured  that  we  were  doing 
right,  nothing  would  be  hard,  comparatively  speaking.  Assured  of  the 
approbation  of  the  blessed  God,  the  Christian  could  rejoice  at  the  stake. 
But  trials,  are  trials  of  faith,  aggravated  by  the  thousand  wily  argu 
ments  of  unbelief. 

The  separating  of  missionaries  from  their  kindred  and  acquaintances, 
under  the  peculiarly  tender  associations  of  thought  on  those  occasions, 
are  trials.  But  they  occur  in  the  warmth  of  your  zeal.  You  contend 
with  them  as  you  would  with  a  winter's  wind,  when  wrapped  in  your 

9 


66 

mantle.  The  departure  of  missionaries  for  the  field  of  their  labours  is 
usually  a  matter  of  notoriety,  at  which  times  the  better  feelings,  arid  a 
great  amount  of  feelings,  are  put  in  requisition.  Most  of  them  leave 
port  with  full  sails.  About  two  thirds  make  short  voyages,  and  speedy, 
though  not  profitable  returns ;  and  it  is  commonly  remarked,  that  they 
who  leave  port  with  most  canvass,  are  soonest  restored  to  the  bosom  of 
their  friends,  in  the  land  of  their  fathers.  I  would  that  all  when  en 
tering  upon  missionary  labours,  could  take  admonition  from  the  words 
of  the  king  of  Isi  <*!,  "  Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on  his  harness  boast 
himself  as  he  that  pvtteth  it  off." 

Again ;  in  anticipating  trials,  we  always  contrive  the  mode  of  their 
attack,  and  accordingly  provide  in  our  minds  the  means  of  defence.  In 
the  whole  of  these  arrangements  we  are  usually  disappointed.  The  ex 
igency  must  provide  for  itself. 

In  most  instances  missionaries  not  only  enlist  with  high  spirits,  but 
commence  their  work  at  their  stations  with  increased  ardour.  But 
weeks  and  months  render  their  work  familiar.  Their  hopes  are  seldom 
realized  in  success.  Disappointments  follow  in  quick  succession,  till  at 
length  they  fancy  they  hear  a  whisper,  "  Who  hath  required  this  at  your 
hand?"  A  person  once  told  me  that  he  was  pretty  confident  that  he 
was  not  in  the  path  of  duty,  because  he  was  favoured  with  less  reli 
gious  enjoyment  than  before  he  became  a  missionary.  This  absence 
of  religious  feeling  is  one  of  our  greatest  privations,  and  that  which 
points  the  sting  of  all  our  trials,  yet  it  is  nothing  more  than  we  may 
generally  expect  in  our  situation.  Heaven  appointed  the  social  privi 
leges  which  Christians  enjoy  when  surrounded  by  numerous  brethren, 
&c.  for  consoling  and  strengthening  our  minds ;  in  the  absence,  there 
fore,  of  these  means,  we  must  experience  the  absence  of  their  legitimate 
effects. 

As  soon  as  the  ardour  produced  by  novelty  lias  subsided,  missionaries 
have  evinced,  so  far  as  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  observing,  a  dispo 
sition  to  melancholy.  Their  seclusion  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  their 
disappointments,  and  the  peculiar  character  of  their  toils  and  trials,  all 
tend  to  depress  the  spirits.  A  disposition  to  hypochondria  as  naturally 
belongs  to  man,  as  inherent  infirmity  which  renders  him  susceptible  of 
disease.  The  causes  which  irritate  it  abound  with  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians.  Hence,  while  compelled  to  be  resolute,  he  is  painfully  suspi 
cious,  clouds  which  gather  about  him  are  blackened,  and  pleasantness 
itself  is  embittered. 

In  a  former  number,  I  dropped  a  hint  respecting  the  anxiety  which 
parents  feel  in  relation  to  ,their  children.  Of  this  you  may  suppose  you 
have  formed  a  tolerably  correct  idea,  but  in  the  progress  of  your  pil 
grimage,  you  will  probably  have  occasion  to  say  "  the  half  had  not  been 
told  you."  It  is  difficult  to  become  reconciled  to  the  fact  of  leaving  our 
children  poor,  and  to  the  application  of  all  our  exertions  to  the  promo 
tion  of  the  interests  of  others,  while  not  a  dollar  is  to  be  laid  by  for  our 
children.  If  they  should  become  missionaries,  their  condition  will  have 
been  settled  by  the  example  of  their  parents :  but  they  may  never  be 
come  religious,  and  if  they  should,  they  may  not  choose  to  be  mission 
aries  ;  in  either  event,  they  must  enter  the  world  in  poverty. 

It  sometimes  also  happens,  that  missionaries  have  not  reason  to  sup 
pose  that  their  widows  and  orphans  will  be  suitably  provided  for.  A 
missionary  who  had  spent  about  ten  years  of  the  best  part  of  his  life 


67 

among  the  Indians;  who  had  bestowed  not  only  all  his  time,  but  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  his  own  funds  in  the  cause  of  the  mission,  was  so 
unfortunate  as  to  receive  a  communication  of  a  discouraging  character 
on  this  subject.  Before  proper  explanations  could  be  made,  an  attack 
of  fever  brought  him  so  low  that  his  life  was  almost  despaired  of.  His 
associates  were  not  wanting  in  kindness,  but  they  were  few  in  number, 
and  so  situated  that  he  could  not  expect  much  aid  from  them  for  his 
family.  The  thought  of  dying  in  the  wilderness,  and  leaving  his  wife 
and  many  small  children  to  be  driven  to  some  otty  place,  he  knew  not 
where,  destitute  of  the  comforts  of  life,  to  the  mercy  of  an  almost  mer- 
ciless*world,  was  accompanied  by  anxieties  unknown  to  those  who  have 
not  been  similarly  situated.  He  said  to  a  gentleman  who  had  visited 
the  station,  "  Should  I  die,  I  shall  leave  my  family  in  a  deplorable  con 
dition  They  are  provided  for  only  in  my  reliance  upon  the 

God  whom  I  have  served." 

It  may  be  objected  that  such  sacrifices  are  not  required.  I  think  dif 
ferently  ;  and  some  reasons  for  my  opinion  have  been  already  assigned. 
Somebody  must  do  the  work.  Ordinary  efforts  will  not  succeed  in  the 
almost  desperate  case  of  the  Indians.  Extraordinary  efforts  will  com 
bine  extraordinary  sacrifices.  The  question  cannot  remain  long  unan 
swered,  Whether  it  be  not  better  for  a  few  to  subject  themselves  and 
families  to  inconvenience,  than  to  suffer  a  noble  race  of  men  to  perish 
from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  reasonable  trust  in  God  is  safe.  The 
man  to  whom  we  referred  above  was  comforted  by  the  language  of  Da 
vid,  "  I  have  been  young  and  now  am  old,  yet  have  I  not  seen  the 
righteous  forsaken,  nor  his  seed  begging  bread."  "  My  children,"  said 
he,  "  may  become  worthless,  and  this  might  happen  were  I  to  bring 
them  up  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances ;  but  I  trust  that  the 
extra  risk  attendant  on  my  situation  will  be  more  than  equalled  by  the 
promise  of  God." 

Finally,  if  you  become  a  missionary,  you  must  live  by  faith.  Re 
nouncing  self-interest,  you  must  bend  your  whole  self  to  the  affairs  of 
the  mission. 

The  responsibility  upon  all  who  engage  to  promote  Indian  improve 
ment  is  great,  but  it  devolves  with  peculiar  weight  upon  you  who  are  in 
the  midst  of  misery,  and  within  reach  of  the  miserable. 

Whatever  may  be  the  difficulties  attending  your  situation,  you  dare 
not  indulge  a  thought  of  abandoning  the  people  of  your  charge.  Many 
of  them,  from  the  child  to  the  aged,  have  become  personally  acquainted 
with  you.  They  easily  perceive  that  you  are  not  mingling  with  them  for 
the  purposes  of  trade,  or  of  worldly  profit  in  any  way.  They  are  at  no 
loss  to  discover  the  difference  between  your  treatment  of  them,  and  that  of 
other  white  men  who  have  been  in  tfeeir  country ;  and  they  as  readily  infer 
that  you  are  the  persons  on  whom  they  may  rely  for  friendship ;  these 
hopes  must  not  be  disappointed.  It  will  not  be  sufficient  for  us  to  sup 
pose  that,  if  we  retire,  others  will  enter  the  field :  if  others  should  not, 
how  should  we  answer  the  complaints  of  these  people  for  our  forsaking 
them?  There  exists  a  lamentable  want  of  missionaries;  none  can  be 
discharged  without  serious  loss  to  the  cause.  We  may  not  plead  the 
inequality  of  labour  between  ourselves,  and  others  within  the  circles  of 
civilized  life ;  for,  if  others  can  bask  in  plenitude,  arid  satisfy  their  con 
sciences  by  an  occasional  contribution  of  their  property  for  the  benefit 
of  the  heathen,  we  cannot.  Each  of  us  must  adhere  to  the  resolution, 


68 

"  Let  others  do  as  they  may,  we  will  use  our  utmost  endeavours  to  re 
lieve  this  unfortunate  people."  However  discouraging  may  be  our 
prospects  of  success,  we  will  not  relinquish  our  labours.  If  the  Indians 
perish,  they  must  do  it  while  missionaries  are  employing  all  their  ener 
gies  for  their  relief. 

The  children  adopted  into  our  missionary  families,  and  admitted  to 
our  schools,  look  to  us  as  their  guardians ;  as  their  only  friends ;  while 
they  have  become  second  in  our  affections  to  our  own  children.  We 
have  formed  acquaintance  with  others  who  manifest  a  similar  depend- 
ance  upon  our  kindness.  How  could  we  call  them  around  us,  and  in 
form  them  that  we  were  about  to  forsake  them  !  We  say,  "  You  have 
been  taught  to  look  to  us  as  substantial  friends,  whose  only  business  on 
earth  was  to  seek  your  welfare.  But  we  now  must  tell  you  that  you  have 
heard  our  last  religious  discourse,  and  our  last  prayer.  You  must  now 
retire  to  the  forests,  to  be  driven  from  place  to  place,  to  languish  under 
the  complicated  woes  of  hunger,  cold,  intemperance,  disease  contracted 
by  intercourse  with  the  whites,  and  broken-heartedness,  until  you  pe 
rish."  What  think  you  of  such  language  as  the  following,  from  the 
lips  of  a  retiring  missionary? 

"  My  labours  for  you  subject  me  to  many  anxieties  and  privations. 
I  have  already  borne  more  than  would  have  fallen  to  my  proportion,  in 
an  equal  distribution  among  your  professed  friends.     I  feel  great  anxiety 
on  account  of  my  family,  and  as  charity  ought  to  begin  at  home,  I  must 
make  some  provision  for  them.     I  have  long  been  witness  of  your  de 
plorable  condition,  and  know  that  your  hasty  existence  will  be  intolera 
ble.     But,  while  you  shelter  your  half-naked  body  from  the  rain  or 
snow,  beneath  a  piece  of  bark;  or  while  you  dig  roots,  boil  weeds,  and 
scrape  the  bark  of  trees  for  subsistence,  I  will  console  myself  with  a 
comfortable  fire-side,  and  well  furnished  bed  and  board  for  me  and 
mine.     I  regret,  indeed,  that  you  will  never  again  be  conducted  to  the 
house  of  God,  but  this  grief  shall  be  assuaged  by  the  privilege  of  lead 
ing  my  own  family  to  worship  in  houses  more  decent,  and  congrega 
tions  more  agreeable,  than  have  been  realized  in  your  country;  and  in 
hearing  the  precepts,  promises,  and  threatenings  of  the  bible,  such  as, 
4  Do  to  others  as  ye  would  that  others  should  do  to  you.'     l  Blessed  is  he 
that  considereth  the  poor,  the  Lord  will  deliver  him  in  time  of  trouble.1 
*  He  shall  have  judgment  without  mercy  that  hath  shewed  no  mercy,* 
&c.     In  leaving  you,  I  deprive  ybu  of  the  only  means  of  consoling  your 
sick  and  dying  hours,  yet  I  trust  that  God  '  will  make  my  bed  in  sick 
ness,  and  render  it,  even  in  death,  as  '  soft  as  downy  pillows  are.' 
Others  have  '  wandered  in  deserts  and  mountains,  in  caves  and  dens  of 
the  earth;  have  worn  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins;  were  afflicted  and 
counted  not  their  lives  dear,'  in  the  cause  of  benevolence.     Though 
bound  to  imitate  their  example,  I  will  seek  ease  and  comfort ;  better 
for  me  to  provide  for  my  own  brief  existence  on  earth,  and  for  my 
family,  than  to  commit  myself  to  the  providence  of  a  merciful  and 
righteous  Lord,  and  prosecute  troublesome  toils  for  the  sake  of  rescuing 
from  destruction,  temporal  and  eternal,  a  languishing  remnant  of  a 
noble  race  of  men.      I  take  my  leave  of  you,  in  the  assurance  of 
leaving  you  destitute  of  the  means  of  relief,  so  far  as  I  can  deprive 
you  of  them.     We  shall  meet  again  at  the  great  day  of  retribution ; 
then,  ask  me  not  why  I  preferred  the  hopes  of  a  few  days'  softness  of 
refined  life,  to  the  salvation  of  thousands  of  immortal  souls,  nor  hetp 
upon  me  the  blame  of  your  destruction!" 


69 

We  do  not  attach  so  much  importance  to  a  company  of  missionaries, 
as  to  suppose  that  the  Almighty  would  permit  their  fearfulness  to  effect 
such  sad  consequences,  but  the  guilt  is  none  the  less  on  the  part  of  the 
missionary.  So  far  as  he  is  concerned  in  the  case  above,  his  guilt 
would  not  be  greater  if  his  callousness  should  not  be  overruled  by  Him 
who  sitteth  in  the  heavens.  God  requires  us  to  employ  means  for  the 
benefit  of  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  our  fellow  men,  and  when  we  ne 
glect  the  use  of  those  means,  we  become  guilty  of  the  legitimate  conse 
quences  of  their  absence,  whether  they  occur  or  are  prevented  by  the 
hand  of  Providence.  On  a  notable  emergency,  Mordecai  said  to  Esther, 
"  Think  not  with  thyself  that  thou  shalt  escape,  for  if  thou  altogether 
hold  thy  peace  at  this  time,  then  shall  there  enlargement  and  deliverance 
arise  to  the  Jews  from  another  place,  and  thou  shalt  be  destroyed." 

Who  would  excuse  the  surgeon  for  refusing  to  dress  the  wound  because 
it  had  become  offensive?  Our  work  is  a  difficult  one,  requiring  the 
sacrifice  of  "  mortal  interests,"  but  somebody  must  make  that  sacrifice. 
Let  us  therefore  esteem  it  a  privilege  and  an  honour  to  be  selected  by 
Providence  for  this  work.  Our  patience  and  faith  are  often  tried ;  in 
stances  of  ingratitude  too  often  occur ;  and  our  fondest  hopes  are  fre 
quently  blighted ;  but  "  in  due  time  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not." 

I  would  not  be  understood  as  saying  that  circumstances  may  not  fre 
quently  occur  to  justify  missionaries  in  leaving  the  fields  of  their  labours. 
Want  of  health,  and  a  hundred  other  considerations,  will  often  plainly 
evince  the  propriety  of  such  a  course.  Indeed  exceptions  to  all  pre 
scribed  general  rules  must  frequently  be  made,  because  called  for  by  the 
emergencies  peculiar  to  the  subject. 

Our  perplexities,  however,  do  not  all  spring  up  in  the  land  of  our  la 
bours.  Erroneous  views  of  this  subject  unhappily  prevail  in  the  United 
States,  out  of  which  grow  many  trials  more  difficult  to  manage  than 
those  which  are  indigenous  to  the  forests.  The  prating  of  the  malicious, 
who  would  measure  our  disinterestedness  by  their  own  avarice  and 
ambition,  is  little  more  than  the  noise  of  the  potsherd; — grating  to  our 
feelings,  but  not  hurtful  to  our  healths.  But,  the  virtuous  and  the  good 
have  also  their  mistaken  notions  of  the  subject  of  Indian  improvement; 
— their  jealousies  and  doubts  ;  these  give  rise  to  many  sad  hours  which 
are  understood  only  by  Him  into  whose  bosom  we  pour  our  plaint. 

In  a  land  of  freedom  as  ours  is,  where  the  people  think  and  judge  for 
themselves  without  external  restraint;  and  while  each  has  his  own  per 
sonal  business,  which  engrosses  his  chief  attention,  and  thereby  is  in 
duced  to  decide  on  missionary  operations  without  the  labour  of  examin 
ing  them  thoroughly ;  it  must  be  expected  that  public  opinion  will  un 
dergo  many  changes.  There  will  be  times  when  public  sentiment  and 
feelings  may  be  awakened  in  a  high  degree,  in  favour  of  supporting 
missions ; — hearts  will  be  tender,  and  hands  will  be  liberal.  But,  in 
those  favourable  seasons,  when  we  are  allowed  so  plenteously  the 
prayers,  the  sympathies,  the  counsels,  and  the  munificence  of  the  Chris 
tian  community,  let  us  prepare  to  meet  the  shock  of  reaction.  We  may 
expect  it  with  little  less  certainty,  than  we  foresee  that  the  pinchings  of 
winter  will  succeed  the  pleasures  and  plenitude  of  autumn.  Times  will 
occur,  when  they  who  have  contributed  somewhat  to  the  support  of 
missions  will  look  back  and  inquire,  what  has  become  of  our  money? 
Be  not  astonished  my  brethren,  if,  after  years  of  privation  and  toil, 
which  had  often  threatened  to  overcome  both  your  resolution  and  your 


TO 

ability  to  bear ;  and  if,  after  the  most  conscientious  economy  and  man 
agement  you  should  be  charged  by  many  with  waste  and  profusion  in 
applying  the  munificence  of  the  public.  Be  not  astonished,  if  you 
should  be  represented  as  having  lived  in  ease  and  affluence  on  the  cha 
rities  of  the  supporters  of  missions  ; — these  will  be  blows  extending  to  the 
heart.  "  It  was  not  an  enemy  that  reproached  me,  then  I  could  have 
borne  it,  neither  was  it  he  that  hated  me  that  did  magnify  himself  against 
me,  then  I  would  have  hid  myself  from  him.  But,  it  was  thou,  a  man, 
mine  equal,  my  GUIDE  and  mine  acquaintance.  We  took  sweet  counsel 
together ,  and  walked  into  the  house  of  God  in  company." 

In  the  impatience  of  the  public,  plans  and  improvements  relative  to 
missionary  operations  will  often  be  devised  by  those  who,  with  the  best 
motives,  do  not,  equally  with  yourselves,  possess  the  means  of  enabling 
them  to  arrive  at  just  decisions.  Forbearance  on  our  part,  and  a  dispo 
sition  to  submit  in  all  cases  which  do  not  vitally  affect  the  interests  of 
the  mission,  will  be  becoming  in  us.  But  when  rules  are  devised  for 
the  operation  of  our  affairs  which  we  are  convinced  are  in  themselves 
calculated  to  undermine  our  hopes  for  the  future,  or  to  plunge  into  ruin 
that  for  which  we  have  toiled  in  days  past,  then  it  would  be  criminal  if 
we  should  not  meekly  take  a  decisive  stand.  For  the  regulation  of  our 
conduct  in  this  trying  posture  of  affairs,  no  specific  rules  can  be  prescrib 
ed  further  than,  when  we  assume  this  decisive  and  awfully  responsible 
position,  let  us  do  it  upon  our  knees,  with  eyes  lifted  towards  the  hea 
vens,  and  while  we  extend  our  hand  to  avert  the  threatening  evil,  cry, 
O  spare ! 

At  present  the  too  general  impression  that  almost  any  one  will  an 
swer  well  enough  for  a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  frequently  injures 
both  our  usefulness  and  our  feelings.  If  a  man  is  in  good  business, 
possesses  some  property,  and  moves  in  what  they  call  the  higher  circles 
in  life,  he  is  seldom  thought  of  as  suitable  for  a  missionary  to  the  In 
dians.  While  we  protest  against  the  principle,  we  admit  that  few  such 
as  last  described  are  likely  to  enter  our  ranks,  nor  will  any  of  us  ever 
blush  at  our  acquaintance  with  the  humbler  walks  of  life  in  days  past  or 
present. 

We  should  carefully  guard  against  selfishness  in  all  its  bearings.  Let  us 
never  feel  uneasy  lest  our  fare  be  more  homely  than  that  of  our  brethren. 
With  equal  vigilance  let  us  guard  against  jealousy,  which  would  make 
us  fear  that  we  did  not  receive  a  due  proportion  of  credit  for  our  servi 
ces.  Each  should  resolve  to  do  all  within  his  power,  let  others  do  as 
they  may  ;  and  if  my  brother  should  neglect  a  part  of  his  business,  I 
will  endeavour  to  perform  it,  and  my  own  too.  As  to  praise  for  what 
we  do,  or  the  pleasure  of  having  our  names  known  to  others,  we  should 
esteem  ourselves  unworthy  of  being  missionaries  if  not  content  with  the 
approbation  of  "  Him  who  seeth  in  secret."  A  candid,  unvarnished  his 
tory  of  our  affairs,  is  proper  for  us  to  give ;  the  interests  of  our  enter- 
prize  require  it,  and  our  patrons  have  a  right  to  expect  it ;  but  we  need 
not  envy  those  who  by  noise  would  make  little  labours  appear  great. 

Yet  while  we  glance  at  the  out-lines  of  our  trials,  we  have  the  satis 
faction  to  know  that  our  work  abounds  with  pleasures  as  well  as  pains. 
There  is  a  peculiar  sweetness  in  labours  of  benevolence,  which  solicit  no 
reward  of  money  nor  of  praise,  but  merely  that  of  seeing  others  made 
happy  thereby  ;  a  sweetness  unknown  to  the  merchant  who  counts  over 
his  daily  profits,  and  to  the  ambitious  who  are  pleased  with  a  naihe* 


71 

The  Gospel  never  appears  more  precious  than  when  preached  in  the 
smoky  wigwam  of  an  Indian.  To  aid  in  taming  the  wild-man,  and  in 
leading  his  sons  and  his  daughters  to  the  elevation  of  civilized  life,  and 
to  an  equality  in  the  scale  of  being  with  neighbouring  nations,  afford 
pleasures  which  do  not  grow  spontaneously  in  earth. 

There  are  also  many  who,  so  far  as  they  understand  our  situation, 
kindly  sympathize  in  our  trials  and  delight  to  afford  comfort ;  to  which 
we  add  the  pleasant  reflection,  that  thousands  only  need  to  be  made  ac 
quainted  with  our  case,  to  interest  their  generous  hearts  in  our  behalf. 
The  society  of  e^.ch  other  is  peculiarly  sweet,  secluded  from  the  pursuits 
of  other  men,  and  all  consecrated  to  the  same  labours,  "  our  hopes, 
our  fears,  our  aims  are  one,  our  comforts  and  our  cares.'7  Here  secta 
rian  bitterness  cannot  live,  and  Paul  and  Barnabas'  sharp  contentions 
are  soon  forgot. 

Amidst  our  disappointments  and  discouragements  too,  we  find  our 
joys ;  for,  our  labours  are  not  wholly  lost ;  they  never  have  been  in  any 
known  instance  of  missionary  effort  among  the  Indians.  We  are  daily 
benefitting  a  few,  and  those  of  us  who  feel  most  discouraged,  have  reali 
zed  occurrences  which  have  more  than  compensated  our  labours.  It  is 
not  all  uncertainty  in  relation  to  our  success.  We  trust  that  when  the 
peculiarities  of  the  condition  of  the  Indians  become  properly  understood, 
measures  will  be  provided  to  afford  substantial  relief.  The  indulgence 
of  faith  and  hope  in  the  case  is  grateful  in  proportion  to  the  menacing 
aspect  of  their  present  condition.  Should  we  at  the  "  set  time  to  favour 
the  Indians"  be  found  at  our  posts,  and  be  made  instrumental  in  con 
tributing  somewhat  to  its  accomplishment,  we  shall  have  no  reason  to 
regret  our  unwearied  exertions  in  so  good  a  cause. 

We  should  be  careful  not  to  confine  our  views  to  the  immediate  sphere 
of  our  labours,  and  hence  draw  conclusions  in  relation  to  the  subject  of 
Indian  improvement  in  general ;  nor  should  we  be  influenced  by  par 
tiality  for  a  particular  place,  or  a  particular  measure.  I  may  be  located 
at  a  place  at  which  it  is  desirable  to  remain.  I  have  some  Indians  about 
me  with  whom  I  have  become  acquainted,  and  we  all  feel  more  at  home 
in  this  place  then  we  fancy  we  shall  in  any  other ;  and  anticipate,  on 
various  accounts,  much  inconvenience  in  a  removal,  and  I  may,  for  these 
reasons,  ask  leave  to  remain  where  I  am.  But  the  question  should  not 
be  decided  under  the  influence  of  such  considerations.  I  should  inquire 
whether  the  people  of  my  charge  could  not  thrive  better  in  some  other 
place,  in  the  probable  event  of  which  my  own  convenience  ought  not  to 
be  consulted. 

I  believe  that  the  cause  of  Indian  improvement  is  at  this  time  suffering 
not  a  little  by  the  partiality  which  many  feel  for  particular  places  at  which 
they  labour.  It  is  an  evil  which  cannot  be  too  soon  corrected,  and  one 
which  I  have  reason  to  believe  exists  to  an  extent  beyond  what  many 
suppose. 

-*•••«. 

' 
No.  V. 

Conclusion. 

The  preceding  remarks  lead  us  to  the  following  conclusions.  We  have 
within  our  control  the  means  of  rescuing  from  destruction  the  abort- 


72 

gines  of  our  country,  and  of  elevating  them  to  an  equality  with  their 
neighbours,  in  the  scale  of  being  and  the  enjoyments  of  life.  The  points 
which  vitally  affect  their  condition  are  involved  in  the  policy,  and  con 
sequently  are  under  the  control,  of  our  government.  Our  rulers  are  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  of  whom  they  form  a  part,  and  are  acting 
agreeably  to  their  directions.  Hence,  when  the  people  get  right  on  the 
subject  of  Indian  improvement,  GOVERNMENT  WILL  BE  RIGHT. 

The  menacing  attitude  assumed  by  opposing  obstacles  admonishes  us 
that,  to  the  strong  arm  of  government  must  be  united  sacrifices  which  be 
nevolence  alone  can  be  expected  to  make.  No  sacrifices  on  the  part  of 
government,  as  such,  is  required  in  the  case,  for  the  whole  process  may 
go  on  to  the  positive  advantage  of  our  nation.  Were  it  otherwise,  our 
government  would  not  withhold  the  necessary  aid.  It  would  not  pause 
to  reckon  dollars  and  cents,  in  an  enterprize  of  such  magnitude.  The 
sacrifices  which  are  necessary  require  us  to  enter  into  the  midst  of  their 
poverty,  sorrows,  and  sins,  to  unite  our  efforts  with  theirs,  in  applying  to 
their  relief  the  comforts  of  life  ;  gently  to  wipe  the  tear  of  grief,  kindly 
to  whisper  the  voice  of  hope,  and  lead  them  in  the  paths  of  virtue.  Some 
of  us  must  consent  to  live  with  them  upon  the  principle  of  disinterested 
benevolence,  that  our  attention  being  undivided,  we  may  devote  our  en 
tire  selves  to  the  work  ;  may  enter  freely  and  fully  into  the  little  and 
disagreeable  affairs  of  their  condition  ;  matters  which  cannot  be  made 
subjects  of  national  legislation,  except  upon  very  general  principles,  and 
which  nevertheless  vitally  affect  the  health  of  the  nation. 

While  some  must  consecrate  their  lives  to  the  object,  others  must  con 
tribute  of  their  property,  all  that  the  case  demands  above  the  provisions 
of  government.  In  the  language  of  Deborah  in  Israel,  let  me  ask, 
have  we  among  us  a  competent  number  of  persons  who,  like  "  the  peo 
ple  of  Zebulon  and  Naphtali,  will  come  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against 
the  mighty,  and  jeopard  their  comforts  and  their  lives  in  the  desert  places 
of  the  earth,  and  ask  no  gain  of  money  ?"  Again,  in  the  language  of 
Ezra,  will  "  the  people  offer  freely,  according  to  their  ability,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  work  ?"  The  beneficent  spirit  of  the  age  re 
sponds  ;  we  have  the  men  ;  the  means ;  and  the  disposition  to  use  them. 
Justice  and  humanity  prepare  to  sound  the  trump  of  Jubilee,  and  call  the 
wandering  outcasts  to  their  kindred ,  their  country ,  and  their  HOME. 


